Mefenacet resistance in multiple herbicide-resistant Echinochloa crus-galli L. populations

Echinochloa crus-galli L., a notorious weed in rice paddy fields, is usually kept under control by mefenacet application at the pre-emergence or early post-emergence stage. Due to continuous and repeated usage, E. crus-galli is developing resistance to mefenacet in China. Two putative resistant and one susceptible E. crus-galli populations were collected from paddy fields in Jiangsu Province to characterize their herbicide resistance. Compared with the susceptible population, the two mefenacet-resistant populations had 2.8- and 4.1-times greater pre-emergence resistance, and 10- and 6.8-times greater early post-emergence resistance to mefenacet. These mefenacet-resistant E. crus-galli populations also exhibited cross- or multiple-resistance to acetochlor, pyraclonil, imazamox, and quinclorac. However, when the glutathione S-transferase (GST) inhibitor 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD-Cl) was applied prior to post-emergence treatment, mefenacet resistance levels were reduced in both populations. Additionally, GST activity in vivo in one resistant population was much higher than the susceptible population after mefenacet application. The very long chain fatty acid elongases (VLCFAEs) from both mefenacet-resistant populations required much higher mefenacet concentration to inhibit their activity. The reduced sensitivity of VLCFAEs to mefenacet indicates the presence of a target-site resistance mechanism and induction of high GST activity may provide additional contribution to E. crus-galli mefenacet resistance through a non-target-site mechanism.