STATUS OF HERBICIDE RESISTANCE IN WEEDS AND THE WAYS TO MITIGATE IT FROM GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Survivability of a few plants with natural resistance after herbicide application and their reproduction followed by herbicide application on each successive generation results in herbicide resistance and this phenomenon is rampant in present day agricultural fields. The study design is thus, focused on the overall status of herbicide resistance weeds and their distribution, mechanism of herbicide resistance in weed biotypes and the practices that are adopted and need to be adopted in order to curb the resistance development mechanism. The first herbicide resistance evidence was identified in triazine resistant to common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris). However, herbicide resistance was reported against 2,4-D from Hawaii as early as 1957. Currently, 512 unique cases (species×site of action) of herbicide resistant weeds with 262 species are on light globally. Herbicide-resistant weeds have been reported in 70 countries across 92 crops, with 619 scientists from around the world contributing new cases of exposure.Wheat is the crop with the highest evidence of herbicide resistant weeds, followed by maize and rice. The sharp increase in resistant weeds from the 1980s to 2020 directs the trend as a “growing peril” on agriculture that must be addressed timely and prudently.