Palmer amaranth has greatly disrupted agricultural practices in the United
States with its rapid growth and rapid evolution of herbicide resistance.
This weed species is now suspected in Argentina. To document whether the
suspected plant populations are indeed Palmer amaranth, molecular
comparisons to known standards were conducted. Additionally, these same
plant populations were screened for possible herbicide resistance to several
acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides. Sequencing data confirmed
that suspected populations (A2, A3, A4) were indeed Palmer amaranth. Another
population (A1) was tested to determine whether hybridization had occurred
between Palmer amaranth and mucronate amaranth the native amaranth species
of the region. Tests confirmed that no hybridization had occurred and that
A1 was simply a unique phenotype of mucronate amaranth. Each population was
screened for resistance to imazapic, nicosulfuron, and diclosulam. All
Palmer amaranth populations from Argentina were shown to be resistant to at
least one ALS-inhibiting herbicide. The populations were then subjected to
further testing to identify the mutation responsible for the observed ALS
resistance. All mucronate amaranth populations exhibited a mutation
previously documented to confer ALS resistance (S653N). No known
resistance-conferring mutations were found in Palmer amaranth.