Pollen-mediated transfer of herbicide resistance between johnsongrass ( Sorghum halepense ) biotypes

Johnsongrass ( Sorghum halepense ) is a troublesome weed in row crop production in the United States. Herbicide resistance is a growing concern in this species, with resistance to ACCase-, ALS-, and EPSPS-inhibitors already reported. Pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) is capable of spreading herbicide resistance, but the extent of PMGF has not yet been studied in johnsongrass. Field experiments were conducted in a Nelder-wheel design to quantify the distance and frequency of PMGF from ALS-inhibitor-resistant (AR) to -susceptible (AS) johnsongrass across three environments (summer 2018, fall 2018, and fall 2019). The AR biotype (pollen donor) was established at the center of the wheel (5-m diameter), and a naturally occurring johnsongrass (AS) infestation was utilized as the pollen recipient, in eight directions and at nine distances (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 40, 45, and 50 m) within each direction. Seeds collected from the AS plants in each distance and direction were screened for survival to the ALS-inhibitor herbicide nicosulfuron (Accent Q) at 95 g ai ha −1 under greenhouse conditions. The survivors (i.e. hybrids) were further confirmed based on the presence of the Trp 574 Leu mutation. At the closest distance of 5 m, PMGF was 9.6–16.2% across the directions and environments, which progressively declined to 0.8–1.2% at 50 m. The exponential decay model predicted 50% reduction in PMGF at 2.2 m and 90% reduction at 5.8 m from the pollen donor block. Results demonstrate that herbicide resistance can spread between adjacent field populations of johnsongrass through PMGF, which necessitates sound monitoring and management.