Herbicide Resistance

Herbicide resistance refers to the ability of some plants or weed species to tolerate chemical treatment because of adaptation, an evolutionary process. The Weed Science Society of America (1998) defines herbicide resistance as “the inherited ability of a plant to survive and reproduce following exposure to a dose of herbicide normally lethal to the wild type.” As a form of herbicide resistance, adaptation is possible only if the genes encoding for resistance have a sufficiently large environmental effect allowing the survival of a weed species in a single generation. The seed of the resistant plant ensures that the resistant trait will be carried forward. In the past 60 years, scientists have noted a pervasive and growing tendency of weeds to resist and adapt to applications ...