Bioherbicidal Activity of Albifimbria verrucaria (Formerly Myrothecium verrucaria) on Glyphosate-Resistant Conyza canadensis.

The effects of the bioherbicidal activity of the fungal phytopathogen, Albifimbria verrucaria (AV), formerly Myrothecium verrucaria, on glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible Conyza canadensis (horseweed) were examined in greenhouse and field studies. Spray applications of mycelial formulations of AV infected both glyphosate-resistant and -susceptible C. canadensis plants at various growth stages. Young plants in the rosette leaf stage of growth were controlled more efficaciously than were older plants that had bolted or that were in the inflorescence stage; nevertheless, severe injury and mortality also occurred in mature plants. The results indicate that this bioherbicidal fungus can infect and control C. canadensis, thereby demonstrating the potential of this fungus as a bioherbicidal agent against this troublesome weed, which has become resistant to various herbicides.

Reduced Glyphosate Movement and Mutation of the EPSPS Gene (Pro106Ser) Endow Resistance in Conyza canadensis Harvested in Mexico.

Glyphosate has been the most widely used herbicide for decades providing a unique tool, alone or in mixtures, to control weeds on citrus in Veracruz. Conyza canadensis has developed glyphosate resistance for the first time in Mexico. The level and mechanisms of resistance of four resistant populations Rs (R1, R2, R3, and R4) were studied and compared with that of a susceptible population (S). Resistance factor levels showed two moderately resistant populations (R2 and R3) and two highly resistant populations (R1 and R4). Glyphosate translocation through leaves to roots was ∼2.8 times higher in the S population than in the four R populations. A mutation (Pro106Ser) in the EPSPS2 gene was identified in the R1 and R4 populations. Mutation in the target site associated with reduced translocation is involved in increased glyphosate resistance in the R1 and R4 populations; whereas for the R2 and R3 populations, it was only mediated by reduced translocation. This is the first study of glyphosate resistance in C. canadensis from Mexico in which the resistance mechanisms involved are described in detail and control alternatives are proposed.

Chemical Profiles, Anticancer, and Anti-Aging Activities of Essential Oils of Pluchea dioscoridis (L.) DC. and Erigeron bonariensis L.

Plants belonging to the Asteraceae family are widely used as traditional medicinal herbs around the world for the treatment of numerous diseases. In this work, the chemical profiles of essential oils (EOs) of the above-ground parts of Pluchea dioscoridis (L.) DC. and Erigeron bonariensis (L.) were studied in addition to their cytotoxic and anti-aging activities. The extracted EOs from the two plants via hydrodistillation were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). GC-MS of EO of P. dioscoridis revealed the identification of 29 compounds representing 96.91% of the total oil. While 35 compounds were characterized from EO of E. bonariensis representing 98.21%. The terpenoids were found the main constituents of both plants with a relative concentration of 93.59% and 97.66%, respectively, including mainly sesquiterpenes (93.40% and 81.06%). α-Maaliene (18.84%), berkheyaradulen (13.99%), dehydro-cyclolongifolene oxide (10.35%), aromadendrene oxide-2 (8.81%), ß-muurolene (8.09%), and α-eudesmol (6.79%), represented the preponderance compounds of EO of P. dioscoridis. While, trans-α-farnesene (25.03%), O-ocimene (12.58%), isolongifolene-5-ol (5.53%), α-maaliene (6.64%), berkheyaradulen (4.82%), and α-muurolene (3.99%), represented the major compounds EO of E. bonariensis. A comparative study of our results with the previously described data was constructed based upon principal component analysis (PCA) and agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), where the results revealed a substantial variation of the present studied species than other reported ecospecies. EO of P. dioscoridis exhibited significant cytotoxicity against the two cancer cells, MCF-7 and A-549 with IC50 of 37.3 and 22.3 µM, respectively. While the EO of the E. bonariensis showed strong cytotoxicity against HepG2 with IC50 of 25.6 µM. The EOs of P. dioscoridis, E. bonariensis, and their mixture (1:1) exhibited significant inhibitory activity of the collagenase, elastase, hyaluronidase, and tyrosinase comparing with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) as a reference. The results of anti-aging showed that the activity of mixture (1:1) > P. dioscoridis > E. bonariensis against the four enzymes.

Herbicide performance in the control of Conyza spp. where three plant heights

Intensive use of the herbicide glyphosate has led to herbicide resistant Conyza spp. populations. Thus, there is a need to indicate alternative herbicides and the appropriate developmental stage for controlling these populations. This study identifies alternatives for controlling glyphosate-resistant horseweed, with treatment applications at different plant heights. For this purpose, field experiments were conducted in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 crop years. The evaluated treatments were: glyphosate (540 g ae ha-1), glyphosate (1080 g ae ha-1), glyphosate (2160 g ae ha-1), glyphosate (3240 g ae ha-1), glyphosate + 2.4-D (1080 + 1005 g ae ha-1), glyphosate + saflufenacil (1080 + 49 g ae/ai ha-1), paraquat (400 g ai ha-1), diquat (400 g ai ha-1), ammonium glufosinate (600 g ai ha-1), and control (without application). These treatments were applied to plants with a maximum of 5 cm; plants between 6 and 15 cm; and plants between 16 and 25 cm. The results showed that glyphosate did not control weeds, regardless of rate. With the exception of 2,4-D, which needs complementation with sequential application of another contact herbicide, all alternatives were viable for the control of Conyza spp. plants with a maximum height of 5 cm.

Utilization of biochar produced from invasive plant species to efficiently adsorb Cd (II) and Pb (II).

Global expansion of invasive plant species has caused serious ecological and economic problems. Two such invasive species, ragweed and horseweed, were pyrolyzed at temperatures of 350, 450 and 550 â„ƒ for biochar production (RB350, RB450, RB550 and HB350, HB450, HB550). The biochars produced were used for Cd(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) removal in aqueous solutions. The results indicated that the properties of the biochars varied with pyrolysis temperature, which further affected their adsorption performance. The maximum adsorption capacity of RB450 for Cd(Ⅱ) (139 mg·g-1) and Pb(Ⅱ) (358.7 mg·g-1) was much higher than that shown in previous studies. The immobilized Cd(Ⅱ) and Pb(Ⅱ) fraction on RB450, RB550, HB450 and HB550 was mainly attributable to the acid soluble and non-available fractions. These findings suggested that pyrolysis of invasive plants at 450 â„ƒ could not only be an option to control invasive plants but also could be of benefit in using biochar as excellent adsorbent.

Effect of Adjuvant on Glyphosate Effectiveness, Retention, Absorption and Translocation in Lolium rigidum and Conyza canadensis.

Glyphosate retention, absorption and translocation with and without adjuvant were examined in Lolium rigidum and Conyza canadensis in greenhouse and laboratory settings to develop an understanding of the influence of the selected adjuvant on glyphosate activity. Tests on whole plants show that the dose of herbicide needed to reduce dry weight by 50% (GR50) or plant survival (LD50) decreases by mixing glyphosate and adjuvant to 22%-24% and 42%-44% for both populations of L. rigidum and C. canadensis, respectively. This improvement in efficacy could be attributed to the higher herbicide retention and lower contact angle of the glyphosate + adjuvant drops on the leaf surface compared to the glyphosate solution alone. Plants of both species treated with 14C-glyphosate + adjuvant absorbed more glyphosate compared to non-adjuvant addition. Furthermore, the movement of the herbicide through the plant was faster and greater with the adjuvant. Our results reveal that the use of adjuvants improves the effectiveness of glyphosate in two of the most important weeds in agricultural crops in Mediterranean countries.

Physiological, biochemical and molecular bases of resistance to tribenuron-methyl and glyphosate in Conyza canadensis from olive groves in southern Spain.

Multiple resistance to acetolactate synthase (ALS, EC 2.2.1.6) and 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS, EC 2.5.1.19) inhibitor herbicides was studied in two populations of Conyza canadensis (RTG and STG) harvested in southern Spain. Dose-response and enzymatic activity studies for the ALS-inhibiting herbicides showed only cross-resistance to sulfonylureas group but not to the other ALS chemical groups in the RTG population. Regarding glyphosate, the dose-response studies showed that the RTG population was 11.8 times more resistant than the STG population, while the inhibition of EPSPS enzyme (I50) was similar for both populations. Altered/reduced absorption and translocation were the main resistance mechanisms for glyphosate but not for tribenuron-methyl. The metabolic studies to find differences in the amounts of metabolites between the two populations were carried out using thin layer chromatography (for tribenuron-methyl) and capillary electrophoresis (for glyphosate). Metabolites were significantly differed among the two populations for tribenuron-methyl but not for glyphosate. The sequencing of the target-site ALS gene from RTG plants revealed a single point mutation, Pro-197-Ala, that causes resistance to sulfonylurea herbicide in C. canadensis.

Proteomic Analysis of Horseweed (Conyza canadensis) Subjected to Caprylic Acid Stress.

Caprylic acid (CAP) is anticipated to be a potential biocontrol herbicide in the control of weeds, however the molecular mechanism of how CAP affects weeds is poorly understood. Here, the physiological and biochemical (protein-level) changes in horseweed (Conyza canadensis L.) are studied under CAP treatment, with infrared gas analyzer and label-free quantitative proteomics methods. In total, 112 differentially-accumulated proteins (DAPs) (>1.5 fold change, p < 0.05) are present between treated horseweed and control samples, with 46 up-regulated and 66 down-regulated proteins. These DAPs are involved in 28 biochemical pathways, including photosynthesis pathways. In particular, six photosynthesis proteins show significant abundance changes in the CAP-treated horseweed. The qRT-PCR results confirm three of the six genes involved in photosynthesis. Moreover, by measuring photosynthesis characteristics, CAP was shown to decrease photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, and the transpiration rate of horseweed. These results suggest that photosystem I is one of the main biological processes involved in the response of horseweed to CAP.

No evidence for early fitness penalty in glyphosate-resistant biotypes of Conyza canadensis: Common garden experiments in the absence of glyphosate.

Strong selection from herbicides has led to the rapid evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds, greatly complicating weed management efforts worldwide. In particular, overreliance on glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp®, has spurred the evolution of resistance to this herbicide in ≥40 species. Previously, we reported that Conyza canadensis (horseweed) has evolved extreme resistance to glyphosate, surviving at 40× the original 1× effective dosage. Here, we tested for underlying fitness effects of glyphosate resistance to better understand whether resistance could persist indefinitely in this self-pollinating, annual weed. We sampled seeds from a single maternal plant ("biotype") at each of 26 horseweed populations in Iowa, representing nine susceptible biotypes (S), eight with low-level resistance (LR), and nine with extreme resistance (ER). In 2016 and 2017, we compared early growth rates and bolting dates of these biotypes in common garden experiments at two sites near Ames, Iowa. Nested ANOVAs showed that, as a group, ER biotypes attained similar or larger rosette size after 6 weeks compared to S or LR biotypes, which were similar to each other in size. Also, ER biotypes bolted 1-2 weeks earlier than S or LR biotypes. These fitness-related traits also varied among biotypes within the same resistance category, and time to bolting was inversely correlated with rosette size across all biotypes. Disease symptoms affected 40% of all plants in 2016 and 78% in 2017, so we did not attempt to measure lifetime fecundity. In both years, the frequency of disease symptoms was greatest in S biotypes and similar in LR versus ER biotypes. Overall, our findings indicate there are no early growth penalty and possibly no lifetime fitness penalty associated with glyphosate resistance, including extremely strong resistance. We conclude that glyphosate resistance is likely to persist in horseweed populations, with or without continued selection pressure from exposure to glyphosate.

Control of conyza bonariensis with glyphosate associated to adjuvants applied with different spray nozzles / Controle de conyza bonariensis com glyphosate associado a adjuvantes aplicados com diferentes pontas de pulverização

The study aimed to evaluate the control of Conyza bonariensis in delayed post-emergence stage using different spray nozzles and solutions with and without adjuvants; and to verify the occurrence of resistance to glyphosate, determining the dose-response curve. The experimental design was randomized in factorial (6 spray nozzles x 5 spray solution) in twenty repetitions. The treatments were represented by spray nozzles: XR 110015 XR 11002, TT 11002 AIXR 11002, AIC 11002 and AI 11002. Tested spray solution were: glyphosate; glyphosate + Nimbus®; glyphosate + Agral®; Glyphosate + LI-700® and without herbicide application. The use or not of adjuvants in the spray solution did not differ statistically from the solution containing the herbicide only. The spray nozzles AIXR 11002, TT 11002 and XR 11002 presented best results of control the horseweed from the evaluation of 07 days after application (DAP) and 28 DAP and such spray nozzles maintained the best average of control percentage. The higher dry matter reductions of horseweed were obtained by spray nozzles 110015 XR, TT 11002 and 11002 XR compared with the control. The population evaluated presents biotypes that resist to doses of 2.880 g.ha-1 a.e. of glyphosate. It is concluded that the evaluated biotypes presents tolerance to glyphosate, independent of your association or not with adjuvants.

O estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o controle de Conyza bonariensis no estádio pós-emergência tardia, empregando diferentes pontas e caldas com e sem adjuvantes; e verificar a ocorrência de resistência ao glyphosate, determinando a curva dose resposta. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial (6 pontas de pulverização x 5 caldas de pulverização) em vinte repetições. Os tratamentos foram representados pelas pontas de pulverização: XR 110015, XR 11002, TT 11002, AIXR 11002, AIC 11002 e AI 11002. As caldas testadas foram: glyphosate; glyphosate + Nimbus®; glyphosate + Agral®; glyphosate + LI-700® e sem aplicação do herbicida. O uso ou não de adjuvantes na calda não diferiram estatisticamente da calda contendo somente o herbicida. As pontas AIXR 11002, TT 11002 e XR 11002 apresentaram melhores resultados de controle da buva a partir de 07 dias após a aplicação (DAP) e aos 28 DAP e tais pontas mantiveram as melhores médias de porcentagem de controle nas demais avaliações. As maiores reduções de massa seca de buva foram obtidas pelas pontas XR 110015, TT 11002 e XR 11002 quando comparada com a testemunha. A população avaliada apresenta biótipos que resistem a doses de 2.880 g.ha-1 de e.a. do glyphosate. Conclui-se que os biótipos avaliados apresentam tolerância ao glyphosate, independente de sua associação ou não com os adjuvantes.

Wind-mediated horseweed (Conyza canadensis) gene flow: pollen emission, dispersion, and deposition.

Horseweed (Conyza canadensis) is a problem weed in crop production because of its evolved resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides. Although horseweed is mainly self-pollinating, glyphosate-resistant (GR) horseweed can pollinate glyphosate-susceptible (GS) horseweed. To the best of our knowledge, however, there are no available data on horseweed pollen production, dispersion, and deposition relative to gene flow and the evolution of resistance. To help fill this knowledge gap, a 43-day field study was performed in Champaign, Illinois, USA in 2013 to characterize horseweed atmospheric pollen emission, dispersion, and deposition. Pollen concentration and deposition, coupled with atmospheric data, were measured in a source field (180 m by 46 m) and its surrounding areas up to 1 km downwind horizontally and up to 100 m vertically. The source strength (emission rate) ranged from 0 to 140 pollen grains per plant per second (1170 to 2.1×10(6) per plant per day). For the life of the study, the estimated number of pollen grains generated from this source field was 10.5×10(10) (2.3×10(6) per plant). The release of horseweed pollen was not strongly correlated to meteorological data and may be mainly determined by horseweed physiology. Horseweed pollen reached heights of 80 to100 m, making long-distance transport possible. Normalized (by source data) pollen deposition with distance followed a negative-power exponential curve. Normalized pollen deposition was 2.5% even at 480 m downwind from the source edge. Correlation analysis showed that close to or inside the source field at lower heights (≤3 m) vertical transport was related to vertical wind speed, while horizontal pollen transport was related to horizontal wind speed. High relative humidity prevented pollen transport at greater heights (3-100 m) and longer distances (0-1000 m) from the source. This study can contribute to the understanding of how herbicide-resistance weeds or invasive plants affect ecology through wind-mediated pollination and invasion.

Germinação de sementes de Conyza canadensis e C. bonariensis em função da presença de alumínio no substrato / Germination of Conyza canadensis and C. bonariensis seeds under presence of aluminum in the substrate

A germinação das sementes pode ser fortemente influenciada pelas condições ambientais, afetando o estabelecimento de comunidades florísticas. As plantas daninhas, apesar das características de rusticidade e capacidade de suas sementes germinarem em condições de estresse ambiental, podem sofrer o efeito direto da presença de elementos tóxicos no substrato. O alumínio, presente em solos com pH baixo, pode interferir negativamente no processo germinativo de sementes de espécies cultivadas e também de plantas daninhas. No presente trabalho, objetivou-se estudar o efeito tóxico da presença de alumínio no substrato durante a germinação de sementes de Conyza. A germinação foi reduzida pela presença de alumínio no substrato, havendo decréscimos significativos a partir de 1,5cmol c dm-3 para as sementes de ambas as espécies, enquanto a velocidade de germinação foi prejudicada a partir da menor concentração (0,5cmol c dm-3) de alumínio testada. Esses resultados demonstram que as sementes de ambas as espécies são sensíveis à presença de alumínio no substrato de germinação.

Seed germination can be greatly influenced by environmental conditions, which affects the establishment of floristic communities. The weeds, although they had features as hardiness and its ability to germinate seeds under environmental stress conditions, may experience the direct effect of the presence of toxic elements in the substrate. Aluminum, present in soils with low pH can negatively impact the germination of seeds of crop species and weeds. This research aimed to study the toxic effect of aluminum presence in the substrate during seed germination of Conyza. Germination was reduced by the presence of aluminum in the substrate, with significant decreases from 1.5cmol c dm-3 for the seeds of both species. The germination rate was affected from the lower concentration of aluminum tested (0.5cmol c dm-3). These results demonstrate that the seeds of both species are sensitive to the presence of aluminum in substrate germination.