Barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.] is a dominant weed species occurring in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields across China. Metamifop, a common herbicide, is frequently applied to control E. crus-galli and other grassy weeds in rice fields. Herein, HS01, an E. crus-galli population suspected to be resistant (R) to metamifop, was collected from Hanshan County in Anhui Province, China. Whole-plant dose–response testing revealed that, compared with the susceptible (S) population FD03, HS01 had developed high-level resistance to metamifop with a resistance index (RI) of 11.76 and showed cross-resistance to cyhalofop-butyl (RI = 9.33), fenoxaprop-P-ethyl (RI = 5.80) and clethodim (RI = 3.24). Gene sequencing revealed a Cys-2088-Arg mutation in the ACCase 1,5 allele of all the R plants, while ACCase gene overexpression was not involved in the resistance. Molecular docking indicated that the less-negative binding energies might be the main reason for the resistance of HS01 to acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicides. A derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (dCAPS) method was developed for the rapid identification of the Cys-to-Arg mutation in the ACCase gene at codon position 2088 in E. crus-galli. Additionally, pretreatment with the cytochrome P450 inhibitor piperonyl butoxide or the glutathione S-transferase inhibitor 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzoxadiazole had no significant effects (P > 0.05) on the resistance of HS01 to metamifop. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Cys-2088-Arg mutation in E. crus-galli ACCase that confers cross-resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides.

Asia Minor bluegrass (Polypogon fugax Nees ex Steud.) is a problem grass weed of winter crops in China, where a population has become resistant to aryloxyphenoxypropionate (APP) herbicides. The mechanism of resistance is due to an Ile-2041-Asn mutation of the ACCase gene. Screen house experiments were conducted to study the growth, fecundity characteristics, and competitive ability of this aryloxyphenoxypropionate-resistant (APP-R) biotype compared with a susceptible (APP-S) biotype. When grown under noncompetitive conditions, the APP-R P. fugax developed more rapidly than the APP-S plants, with earlier tiller and panicle emergence and seed shedding; the APP-R P. fugax set seeds nearly 12 d earlier than the APP-S biotype. APP-R and APP-S biotypes had similar aboveground dry weight before the flowering stage. Fecundity of the APP-R biotype was similar to the APP-S biotype (8.57 g seeds plant−1 and 0.17 g seeds panicle−1 versus 8.22 g seeds plant−1 and 0.13 g seeds panicle−1, respectively). Ultimately, the relatively slower-developing APP-S P. fugax had 50% more shoot dry weight than the APP-R plants. Relative competitiveness among the APP-R and APP-S P. fugax biotypes was investigated through replacement series experiments. No difference in competitive ability was measured between APP-R and APP-S biotypes on the basis of shoot dry weight before the tillering stage. These results indicate that there is no apparent fitness penalty for the APP-R P. fugax. The shorter growth cycle of APP-R with no apparent fitness penalty suggests that growers will need begin weed control earlier and possibly include vegetative crops with an even shorter growth cycle in their rotations.

Acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicides affect fatty acid biosynthesis in plants and are widely used to control smooth and hare barley in dicot crops in Australia. Recently, growers have experienced difficulty in controlling smooth and hare barley with herbicides from this mode of action. Dose–response experiments conducted on five suspected resistant populations confirmed varying levels of resistance to quizalofop and haloxyfop. The level of resistance in these populations was greater than 27-fold to quizalofop and greater than 15-fold to haloxyfop. The quizalofop dose required to reduce shoot biomass by 50% (GR50) for the resistant populations varied from 52.6 to 111.9 g ha−1, and for haloxyfop from 26.5 to 71.3 g ha−1. Sequencing the CT domain of the ACCase gene from resistant plants of different populations confirmed the presence of previously known mutations Ile1781Leu and Gly2096Ala. Amino acid substitution at the 2096 position conferred a greater level of resistance to haloxyfop than the substitution at the 1781 position. This study documents the first known case of field-evolved target-site resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides in Australian populations of smooth barley.