Glyphosate-resistant kochia (Kochia scoparia L. Schrad.) in Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Abstract

Beckie, H. J., Gulden, R. H., Shaikh, N., Johnson, E. N., Willenborg, C. J., Brenzil, C. A., Shirriff, S. W., Lozinski, C. and Ford, G. 2015. Glyphosate-resistant kochia (Kochia scoparia L. Schrad.) in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 345–349. Previous surveys have documented the occurrence of glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia in Alberta in 2011 and 2012. To determine the incidence of GR kochia in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a stratified-randomized survey of 342 sites (one population per site) in southern and central regions of Saskatchewan and a similar survey of 283 sites in southern Manitoba was conducted in the fall of 2013. Mature plants were collected, seed threshed, and progeny screened by spraying with a discriminating glyphosate dose of 900 g ae ha–1 under greenhouse conditions. Screening confirmed 17 GR kochia populations in nine municipalities in west-central or central Saskatchewan, but only two GR populations from different municipalities in the Red River Valley of Manitoba. While the majority of GR kochia populations in Saskatchewan originated in chemical-fallow fields, some populations were found in cropped fields (wheat, Triticum aestivum L.; lentil, Lens culinaris Medik.; GR canola, Brassica napus L.) and non-cropped areas (oil well, roadside ditch). In Manitoba, the two populations occurred in fields cropped to GR corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.). Agronomic and economic impact of this GR weed biotype is compounded because of consistent multiple resistance to acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides. However, GR kochia is susceptible to dicamba, an increasingly important auxinic herbicide used for control of this multiple-resistant weed biotype.