
Hugh J BeckieAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada | AAFC
Hugh J Beckie
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Publications (112)
BACKGROUND
Seed dormancy is a critical evolutionary trait that enhances the persistence of plant populations under both natural and managed conditions. It is influenced by genetic and environmental factors, with crop management practices like tillage and herbicide use reportedly selecting for increased seed dormancy in weeds. This study aimed to co...
This study investigated replicating six generations of glasshouse-based flowering date selection in wild radish ( Raphanus raphanistrum L.) using an adaptation of the population model SOMER (Spatial Orientated Modelling of Evolutionary Resistance). This individual-based model was chosen because it could be altered to contain varying numbers of gene...
Herbicide resistance in western Canada has increased interest in alternative weed management strategies. Physical impact mills, a form of harvest weed seed control, have been identified as a strategy that may be well suited for Canadian use. The efficacy of the Harrington Seed Destructor, a physical impact mill, was evaluated in 20 producer fields...
Kochia (Bassia scoparia (L.) A.J. Scott) is a problematic tumbleweed, which infests row crops and ruderal areas within western Canada. Herbicide resistance makes kochia management challenging for producers. Widespread resistance to acetolactate synthase-inhibitors, evolution and spread of glyphosate resistance, and the occurrence of dicamba resista...
Rigid ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin) is the most problematic weed in Australia, with evolved resistance to multiple herbicide sites of action. Selection pressure by cinmethylin (Group 30, a fatty acid thioesterase inhibitor) has been limited because few populations have been exposed to the herbicide since its introduction in 2019. In this study,...
Background
We have previously demonstrated that an aldo‐keto reductase (AKR) from Echinochloa colona (EcAKR4‐1) can metabolize glyphosate and confers glyphosate resistance. This study aims to investigate if the EcAKR4‐1 orthologs from Lolium rigidum also play a role in glyphosate resistance in non‐target‐site based, glyphosate‐resistant (R) L. rigi...
Multiple herbicide-resistant kochia [Bassia scoparia (L.) A.J. Scott] is a growing weed management concern for farmers in the Canadian prairies. A randomized–stratified survey of 319 sites in Alberta was conducted in 2021 to determine the frequency and incidence of glyphosate, fluroxypyr, and dicamba resistance in kochia samples four and nine years...
The control of multiple-resistant wild radish ( Raphanus raphanistrum L.) populations in no-till Australian wheat crops has relied upon 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibiting herbicides over the last decade. Two R. raphanistrum populations identified as putatively resistant to pyrasulfotole + bromoxynil in an initial large-scale scre...
Background
Cinmethylin, a pre‐emergence herbicide inhibiting fatty acid thioesterase activity, has recently been introduced to Australian cereal cropping for the control of Lolium rigidum Gaud. (annual ryegrass). To date, there have been no confirmed cases of cinmethylin resistance identified in this species, but some populations exhibit reduced se...
Herbicide resistance, documented in many economically-damaging weed species, is a major threat to global crop production. The injudicious use of herbicides, often in the absence of diverse weed control strategies, poses an immense selection pressure on weed communities for resistance evolution and weed adaptive traits such as high seed dormancy. Th...
Herbicide-resistant (HR) crops are widely grown throughout the United States (U.S.) and Canada. These crop-trait technologies can enhance weed management and therefore can be an important component of integrated weed management (IWM) programs. Concomitantly, evolution of HR weed populations has become ubiquitous in agricultural areas where HR crops...
A significant challenge in our time is to produce sufficient agricultural products on limited farmable land to meet the needs for food, feed, fiber, and industrial uses in the face of a changing climate. Conventional cropping systems mostly rely on inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, to boost crop yields. However, excessive inputs increase...
The evolution of herbicide resistance in arable weed populations markedly impacts their spatial and temporal persistence. Population persistence is the culmination of the interactions among the extent of weedy traits of the species, evolved fitness‐enhancing herbicide‐ resistant traits under recurrent herbicide selection, degree of herbicide‐resist...
BACKGROUND
Lolium rigidum is the most important weed in Australian agriculture and pre‐emergence dinitroaniline herbicides (e.g., trifluralin) are widely and persistently used for Lolium control. Consequently, evolution of resistance to dinitroaniline herbicides has been increasingly reported. Resistance‐endowing target‐site α‐tubulin gene mutation...
Glufosinate is an important and widely used non-selective herbicide active on a wide range of plant species. Resistance evolution to glufosinate in weedy plant species (including the global weed Eleusine indica) is underway. Here, we established the molecular basis of target-site glufosinate resistance in Eleusine indica. Full-length E. indica glut...
Over two decades later, gene flow research as it pertains to genetically engineered crops is still going strong, even in the face of the absence of ecological disasters in the nearly 30 years of widescale biotech crop commercialization. Nonetheless, ecological timeframes are within the study scope of the sort of research performed to date covered i...
Wild oat is a herbicide resistance-prone global weed species that causes significant economic losses in dryland and horticultural agriculture. As a result, there has been a significant research effort in controlling this species. A major impediment to this research is the seed coat-mediated dormancy of wild oat, requiring a labor-intensive incision...
The objective of this paper was to review the reproductive biology, herbicide-resistant (HR) biotypes, pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF), and potential for transfer of alleles from HR to susceptible grass weeds including barnyardgrass, creeping bentgrass, Italian ryegrass, johnsongrass, rigid (annual) ryegrass, and wild oats. The widespread occurren...
Increased adoption of crops with stacked traits conferring glyphosate and dicamba resistance, and recent confirmation of kochia [Bassia scoparia (L.) A.J. Scott] biotypes resistant to these herbicides in Alberta and Saskatchewan, warrant surveillance of herbicide-resistant kochia in Manitoba. A randomized–stratified survey of 315 sites in Manitoba...
Overreliance on herbicides for weed control is conducive to the evolution of herbicide resistance. Lolium rigidum (annual ryegrass) is a species that is prone to evolve resistance to a wide range of herbicide modes of action. Rapid detection of herbicide-resistant weed populations in the field can aid farmers to optimize the use of effective herbic...
Herbicide-resistant (HR) kochia is a growing problem in the Great Plains region of Canada and the United States (U.S.). Resistance to up to four herbicide sites of action, including photosystem II inhibitors, acetolactate synthase inhibitors, synthetic auxins, and the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase inhibitor glyphosate have been report...
BACKGROUND
Lolium rigidum is the weed of greatest economic impact in Australia due to its formidable capacity to evolve herbicide resistance. In this study, 579 field‐sampled L. rigidum populations were tested for resistance to 21 herbicides applied at the recommended rate. Nine herbicide treatments were binary mixtures.
RESULTS
A total of 15 876...
Recent confirmation of dicamba-resistant kochia [Bassia scoparia (L.) A.J. Scott] in Alberta warrants investigation of resistance to other commonly used synthetic auxin herbicides like fluroxypyr. A randomized-stratified survey of 305 sites in Alberta was conducted in 2017 to determine the status of fluroxypyr-resistant kochia. Overall, 13% of the...
Herbicides are the largest category of pesticides used in global agriculture, which is reflected in the rate of increase in the number of unique cases of herbicide‐resistant weed biotypes since the late 1950s. Recommended herbicide resistance management strategies and tactics have evolved over the past 50 years through cumulative research and exper...
Recent confirmations of glyphosate-resistant Russian thistle (Salsola tragus L.) in Montana, Washington, and Oregon, warrant greater surveillance of herbicide-resistant Russian thistle in western Canada. A randomized-stratified survey of 315 sites in Manitoba was conducted in 2018 to determine the incidence of herbicide resistance in Russian thistl...
Conventional methods of uniformly spraying fields to combat weeds, requires large herbicide inputs at significant cost with impacts on the environment. More focused weed control methods such as site‐specific weed management (SSWM) have become popular but require methods to identify weed locations. Advances in technology allows the potential for aut...
BACKGROUND
Glyphosate is routinely used in Australia to control the Arctotheca species Arctotheca calendula (L.) Levyns (referred hereinafter as capeweed). This study identifies the first global case of field‐evolved glyphosate‐resistant capeweed, collected from the grainbelt of Western Australia.
RESULTS
In 2020, a capeweed biotype that was colle...
Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) is a weed management technique that intercepts and destroys weed seeds before they replenish the soil weed seedbank and can be used to control herbicide-resistant weeds in global cropping systems. Wild radish ( Raphanus raphanistrum L.) is a problematic, globally distributed weed species that is considered highly su...
Since the commercialization of herbicide-resistant (HR) crops, primarily glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops, their adoption increased rapidly. Multiple HR traits in crops such as canola ( Brassica napus L.), corn ( Zea mays L.), cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.), and soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] are available in recent years, and management of thei...
This review is updated from Beckie et al. (2012a) and Bajwa et al. (2017). Avena fatua and Avena sterilis are problematic grass weeds with widespread global distributions. Both species can persist in the seed bank for approximately 5 years; however, emergence timing may differ both spatially and temporally. Both species are highly selfing. Herbicid...
The biology, ecology, and management of Lolium rigidum and Lolium multiflorum are reviewed. Both C3 Poaceae (grass) species are native to the Mediterranean region, including southern Europe, north Africa, and southwestern Asia, but are now found in temperate regions of the world. These obligate outcrossing species can readily hybridize with each ot...
Lolium rigidum Gaud., a grass weed species infesting winter field crops, has evolved resistance to the largest number of herbicide modes of action. In this study, 140 field populations of L. rigidum were screened with 14 herbicide treatments. Herbicide resistance at the recommended label dosage of pre‐emergence (PRE), post‐emergence (POST) and bina...
Weeds and weed control are major production costs in global agriculture, with increasing challenges associated with herbicide‐based management because of concerns with chemical residue and herbicide resistance. Non‐chemical weed management may address these challenges but requires the ability to differentiate weeds from crops. Harvest is an ideal o...
Kochia, a major weed species, has evolved resistance to four herbicide modes of action. Herbicide resistance appears to spread quickly, which could result in diminished standing genetic variation, reducing the ability of populations to adapt further. Here we used double digest restriction enzyme associated sequencing to determine the level of gene...
In weed science and management, models are important and can be used to better understand what has occurred in management scenarios, to predict what will happen and to evaluate the outcomes of control methods. To-date, perspectives on and the understanding of weed models have been disjointed, especially in terms of how they have been applied to adv...
Pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) refers to the transfer of genetic information (alleles) from one plant to another compatible plant. With the evolution of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds, PMGF plays an important role in the transfer of resistance alleles from HR to susceptible weeds; however, little attention is given to this topic. The objective of...
BACKGROUND
Resistance to the dinitroaniline herbicide trifluralin in Lolium rigidum (annual ryegrass) often is mediated by the enhanced capacity to metabolize the herbicide to less toxic polar conjugates and/or by functionally recessive target‐site mutations in α‐tubulin.
RESULTS
In two L. rigidum populations possessing enhanced trifluralin metabo...
Legislated pesticide‐use restrictions or bans in a growing number of countries worldwide are forcing growers and land managers to reactively plan, develop or implement alternative pest management practices and even entire farming systems. While the rapidly rising incidence of multiple resistance in weed populations had already begun this transition...
BACKGROUND
Multiple‐herbicide resistance in Lolium rigidum and other weed species is increasingly exerting pressure on herbicide discovery research for solutions against resistance‐prone weeds. In this study we investigate: (i) the responses of L. rigidum populations and wheat to the new herbicide cinmethylin in comparison with other pre‐emergence...
Recent statements from scientific organisations and court decisions have resulted in widespread public interest and concern over the safety of glyphosate, the most popular and effective herbicide used worldwide. Consequently, glyphosate-based products are under intense scrutiny from governments at all levels. Some jurisdictions have already banned...
This report updates the incidence of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds across western Canada from the last report covering 2007 to 2011. This third round of pre-harvest surveys was conducted in Saskatchewan in 2014/2015, Manitoba in 2016, and Alberta in 2017, totaling 798 randomly selected cropped fields across 28 million ha. In addition, we screened...
A recent 2017 survey confirmed dicamba resistance in 18% of kochia populations in Alberta, while 10% were triple-resistant to tribenuron/thifensulfuron, glyphosate and dicamba. This followed the first confirmation of auxinic herbicide-resistant kochia in western Canada found in a spring wheat field in Saskatchewan (in 2015). While the initial auxin...
Kochia is the first known glyphosate-resistant (GR) weed species in western Canada. In 2011, the first confirmations of GR kochia were from chemical-fallow fields located in Warner County, Alberta. Baseline surveys conducted in 2012 (Alberta) and 2013 (Manitoba and Saskatchewan), identified glyphosate resistance in 5%, 5% and 1% of kochia populatio...
Interest in the magnitude and consequences of intra- and inter-specific herbicide resistance gene flow, particularly that mediated by pollen, increased in the mid-1990s with the introduction of herbicide-resistant (HR) transgenic crops. During that time, less attention was paid to the movement of HR alleles via pollen or seed among weed populations...
This review covers recent developments and trends in herbicide-resistant (HR) weed management in agronomic field crops. In countries where input-intensive agriculture is practiced, these developments and trends over the past decade include renewed efforts by the agrichemical industry in herbicide discovery, cultivation of crops with combined (stack...
Weeds pose severe threats to agricultural and natural landscapes worldwide. One major reason for the failure to effectively manage weeds at landscape scales is that current Best Management Practice guidelines, and research on how to improve such guidelines, focus too narrowly on property-level management decisions. Insufficiently considered are the...
A survey was conducted in Alberta in 2017 to determine the distribution and abundance of acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor and glyphosate resistance in Russian thistle. Of 45 populations tested, 31 (62%) were ALS inhibitor resistant. No populations exhibited resistance to glyphosate. This survey serves as a baseline to monitor future incidence...
A randomized stratified survey was conducted in Alberta in 2017 to determine the distribution and abundance of multiple-resistant [acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor, glycine, and synthetic auxin] kochia. All populations were ALS inhibitor resistant, with glyphosate and dicamba resistance confirmed in 50% and 18% of populations, respectively. Te...
Despite decades of research, development, and extension on the mitigation and management of pesticide resistance, the global agricultural situation is becoming increasingly dire. Pest populations with evolved resistance to multiple pesticide sites of action are becoming the norm, with fewer remaining effective xenobiotics for control. We argue that...
This study describes the seedbank persistence of glyphosate-resistant (GR) Kochia scoparia at two sites in western Canada and examines if GRK. scoparia from western Canada and mid-western United States (USA) differ from their susceptible counterparts in seed germination and early growth characteristics at low-temperature regimes. Site or depth of s...
Tillage and new herbicide options may be necessary for the control of herbicide-resistant wild oat. The efficacy of soil-applied herbicides such as pyroxasulfone can be influenced by edaphic factors and weed seed recruitment depth, which varies with tillage system. We investigated the effect of tillage and pyroxasulfone rate when applied in the fal...
The opportunity to target weed seeds during grain harvest was established many decades ago following the introduction of mechanical harvesting and the recognition of high weed seed retention levels at crop maturity; however, this opportunity remained largely neglected until more recently. The introduction and adoption of harvest weed seed control (...
Herbicide resistance has increased the need for novel weed control strategies. Fluridone has herbicidal as well as potential germination stimulant activity. The objectives of this study were to evaluate fluridone as a fall-applied germination stimulant for weed control and to assess rotational crop tolerance. Fall-applied fluridone was compared wit...
As chemical management options for weeds become increasingly limited due to selection for herbicide resistance, investigation of additional nonchemical tools becomes necessary. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) is a methodology of weed management that targets and destroys weed seeds that are otherwise dispersed by harvesters following threshing. It...
The Harrington Seed Destructor (HSD), a novel weed control technology, has been highly effective in Australian cropping systems. To investigate its applicability to conditions in western Canada, stationary threshing was conducted to determine the impact of weed species, seed size, seed number, chaff load, and chaff type on efficacy of seed destruct...
Glyphosate is considered the world’s most important herbicide, but widespread and continual use has resulted in the evolution of resistance. Kochia scoparia (kochia) has evolved resistance via tandem gene amplification of glyphosate’s target, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and resistant populations have been reported from the C...
Conventionally bred (CHT) and genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) crops have changed weed management practices and made an important contribution to the global production of some commodity crops. However, a concern is that farm management practices associated with the cultivation of herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops further deplete farmland...
Wild oat control options are limited in western Canada due to resistance to most common herbicides. Control of wild oat with pyroxasulfone, a soil-applied, very-long-chain fatty-acid inhibitor, was investigated. A series of greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to isolate the effects of vertical seed position, site of herbicide intercepti...
Although proactive or reactive herbicide-resistant weed management (HRWM) practices have been recommended to growers in different agroecoregions globally, there is a need to identify and priorize those having the most impact in mitigating or managing herbicide selection pressure in the northern Great Plains of North America. Our perspective on this...
Seed shatter of wild oat (Avena fatua L.), green foxtail [Setaria viridis (L.) P. Beauv.], wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis L.), cleavers (Galium spurium L. and G. aparine L.), wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulus L.), and kochia [Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad.] was evaluated in field pea, spring wheat, and canola fields in Saskatchewan in 2014 and 20...
The increasing occurrence of herbicide resistance, along with no new herbicide modes of action developed in over 30 yr, have increased the need for nonherbicidal weed management strategies and tactics. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) practices have been successfully adopted in Australia to manage problematic weeds. For HWSC to be effective, a high...
The biological and agronomic sensibility of exante coexistence measures used in different parts of the world is reviewed. These measures need to be commensurate with the biology of the crop and the genetically modified (GM) adventitious presence (AP) labeling thresholds imposed by government or industry. Excessive and inflexible measures or establi...
GMHR crops have been cultivated in the Americas for nearly 20 years. Prior to release, regulators asked the question, “will herbicide selection pressure for evolution of HR weeds increase significantly as a result of GMHR crop cultivation?” In hindsight, they could not have imagined the rapid, widespread adoption of glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops...
Two broad aims drive weed science research: improved management and improved understanding of weed biology and ecology. In recent years, agricultural weed research addressing these two aims has effectively split into separate subdisciplines despite repeated calls for greater integration. Although some excellent work is being done, agricultural weed...
Previous surveys have documented the occurrence of glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia in Alberta in 2011 and 2012. To determine the incidence of GR kochia in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a stratified-randomized survey of 342 sites (one population per site) in southern and central regions of Saskatchewan and a similar survey of 283 sites in southern Man...
A greenhouse study was conducted to examine the response of glyphosate-resistant (GR) plus acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor-resistant kochia to five post-emergence herbicide treatments commonly used to control the weed species in chemical fallow, cereals, or oilseed crops in western Canada. The treatments, which were applied to two GR kochia b...
Efficacy of soil-applied herbicides can be influenced by edaphic factors including soil organic matter (OM) content, as well as by interactions with herbicide tank-mix partners. Field trials were conducted over 6 site-years in 2011 and 2012 across western Canada to examine the interaction of pyroxasulfone and sulfentrazone when co-applied for contr...
Since the discovery of triazine resistance in broadleaf weed populations in the late 1960s, herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds have now infested crop and non-crop areas worldwide for almost half a century. However, it was not until the mid-1990s with the advent of HR crops that use of a single herbicide site of action, glyphosate, was repeatedly applie...
A growth chamber study was conducted to determine the feasibility of developing a quick, yet reliable assay to detect glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia. Seeds of six kochia populations, three GR and three non-GR (susceptible), were placed on filter paper in dishes treated with varying doses of glyphosate. After 7-d incubation, seedlings with a true...
In 2012, 18 yr after experiment establishment, wild oat from the spring wheat phase of seven of nine alternative cropping systems (each of three input levels applied to three levels of cropping diversity) were sampled and screened for ACC-inhibitor resistance. The frequency or level of resistance in wild oat was greatest in the diversified annual g...
Glyphosate-resistant (GR) giant ragweed, horseweed, and common ragweed were confirmed in southwestern Ontario, Canada in 2008, 2010, and 2011, respectively. In the western prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, GR (plus acetolactate synthase inhibitor-resistant) kochia was discovered in 2011. This symposium paper estimates the environmental...
Field trials were initiated in fall 2011 to determine the potential of pyroxasulfone to control acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor-resistant weeds in field pea. Pyroxasulfone was applied in split-plot trials at five locations in western Canada using fall and PRE spring applications of 0 to 400 g ai ha(-1). Trial locations were chosen with a rang...
Glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia was identified in Warner county in southern Alberta in 2011. To determine the scale of the distribution and frequency of GR kochia, a randomized stratified survey of more than 300 locations (one population per location) in southern Alberta was conducted in the fall of 2012. Mature plants were collected, seed separat...
A Saskatchewan study examined hybridization between two mustard (Brassica juncea and B. carinata) crops that were either adjacent to a glyphosate-resistant canola (B. napus) crop or separated by a 5-m strip. Overall, field hybridization levels, detected with glyphosate resistance and species-specific AFLP markers, were low: 0.024% and up to 400 m i...
In summer, 2011, we investigated suspected glyphosate-resistant (GR) kochia in three chem-fallow fields (designated F1, F2, F3, each farmed by a different grower) in southern Alberta. This study characterizes glyphosate resistance in those populations, based on data from dose–response experiments. In a greenhouse experiment, the three populations e...
Over 90% of Canadian kochia populations are resistant to acetolactate synthase (AILS) inhibiting herbicides. We questioned whether the target site based resistance could affect plant growth and competitiveness. Homozygous F-2 herbicide-resistant (HR) kochia plants with an amino acid substitution at Trp(574) (sources: Alberta [AB], Saskatchewan [SK]...
A late-summer survey of herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds was conducted in Alberta in 2007, Manitoba in 2008, and Saskatchewan in 2009, totaling 1,000 randomly selected annually cropped fields. In addition, we screened 1,091 weed seed samples (each sample from one field) submitted by Prairie growers between 2007 and 2011. Of 677 fields where wild oat...
An updated review of biological information is provided for Avena fatua. A widespread species originating in Eurasia, A. fatua is one of the 10 worst annual weeds of temperate agricultural regions of the world. Key weediness traits of this highly selfing species include fecundity, seed shatter, and a large and persistent seed bank with variable deg...
This greenhouse experiment examined the response of homozygous susceptible and acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor–resistant plants from six Canadian kochia accessions with the Pro197 or Trp574 mutation to six alternative herbicides of different sites of action. The null hypothesis was ALS-inhibitor–resistant and –susceptible plants from within a...