How can growers slow the evolution of herbicide resistance in weed populations?
In addition to using other control tactics in addition to herbicides, growers can use herbicides with two different modes of action. This tactic is most effective if the two herbicides are applied simultaneously, not sequentially. However, the freedom to use the strategy of simultaneous application of two distinctly different herbicides relies on the crop plant being resistant to both. The tools of modern biotechnology improve the prospect for developing crops resistant to herbicides with diverse modes of action. For example, researchers are developing crops with dual resistance to herbicides that have very different modes of action: glyphosate and the group of herbicides known as ALS herbicides. The ALS herbicides include herbicide classes such as the sulfonlyureas and imidazolines.
