Research was conducted from 2015 to 2017 to investigate the potential for 2,4-D and multiple herbicide resistance in a waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus(Moq.) J. D. Sauer] population from Missouri (designated MO-Ren). In the field, visual control of the MO-Ren population with 0.56 to 4.48 kg 2,4-D ha⁻¹ranged from 26% to 77% in 2015 and from 15% to 55% in 2016. The MO-Ren population was highly resistant to chlorimuron, with visual control never exceeding 7% either year. Estimates of the 2,4-D dose required to provide 50% visual control (I₅₀) of the MO-Ren population were 1.44 kg ha⁻¹compared with only 0.47 kg 2,4-D ha⁻¹for the susceptible population. Based on comparisons to a susceptible population in dose–response experiments, the MO-Ren population was approximately 3-fold resistant to 2,4-D, and 7-, 7-, 22-, and 14-fold resistant to atrazine, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, respectively. Dicamba and glufosinate were the only two herbicides that provided effective control of the MO-Ren population in these experiments. Examinations of multiple herbicide resistance at the individual plant level revealed that 16% of the plants of the MO-Ren population contained genes stacked for six-way herbicide resistance, and only 1% of plants were classified as resistant to a single herbicide (glyphosate). Results from these experiments confirm that the MO-RenA. tuberculatuspopulation is resistant to 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorimuron, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, making this population the third 2,4-D–resistantA. tuberculatuspopulation identified in the United States, and the first population resistant to six different herbicidal modes of action.

Potential effectiveness of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems depends upon seed shatter of the target weed species at crop maturity, enabling its collection and processing at crop harvest. However, seed retention likely is influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed-shatter phenology in 13 economically important broadleaf weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after physiological maturity at multiple sites spread across 14 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. Greater proportions of seeds were retained by weeds in southern latitudes and shatter rate increased at northern latitudes. Amaranthus spp. seed shatter was low (0% to 2%), whereas shatter varied widely in common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) (2% to 90%) over the weeks following soybean physiological maturity. Overall, the broadleaf species studied shattered less than 10% of their seeds by soybean harvest. Our results suggest that some of the broadleaf species with greater seed retention rates in the weeks following soybean physiological maturity may be good candidates for HWSC.

Seed shatter is an important weediness trait on which the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) depends. The level of seed shatter in a species is likely influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed shatter of eight economically important grass weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after maturity at multiple sites spread across 11 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. From soybean maturity to 4 wk after maturity, cumulative percent seed shatter was lowest in the southern U.S. regions and increased moving north through the states. At soybean maturity, the percent of seed shatter ranged from 1% to 70%. That range had shifted to 5% to 100% (mean: 42%) by 25 d after soybean maturity. There were considerable differences in seed-shatter onset and rate of progression between sites and years in some species that could impact their susceptibility to HWSC. Our results suggest that many summer annual grass species are likely not ideal candidates for HWSC, although HWSC could substantially reduce their seed output during certain years.