Herbicide Resistance: Development and Management

Worldwide, herbicides remain the most efficient technology for large-scale weed control. Therefore, the widespread evolution of herbicide resistance in weed populations within intensive crop production systems is a major threat to the sustainability and profitability of cropping systems. The introduction of new herbicides and herbicide modes of action to replace those herbicides failing due to resistance is essential for weed management. However, the rate of introduction of new herbicides for world agriculture has slowed dramatically. This is due to the difficulty and high cost involved in discovery and development of new herbicides and herbicide modes of actions, and, as a result, new herbicide or herbicide mode of action discovery and development will not occur at a rate required for proactive and reactive resistance management. Therefore, there is a strong imperative to use currently available herbicide resources in more sustainable ways (Walsh and Powles, 2004).