Perspectives on transgenic, herbicide-resistant crops in the United States almost 20 years after introduction

• Published in: Pest management science 2015-05, Vol.71 (5), p.652-657
• Main Author: Duke, Stephen O
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2,4‐D; 4-D; acetolactate synthase; acetyl-CoA carboxylase; Agricultural biotechnology; biopesticides; canola; corn; cotton; Crop science; crops; Crops, Agricultural - genetics; dicamba; ecosystem services; Environmental impact; farmers; genetically modified crop; glufosinate; Glycine - analogs & derivatives; Glyphosate; herbicide resistance; Herbicide Resistance - genetics; herbicide-resistant crop; Herbicides; innovation adoption; Plant resistance; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; reduced tillage; RNA interference; soybeans; Tillage; transgenic crop; transgenic plants; United States; weed control; Weed Control - economics; Weed Control - methods; weed management; Weeds; Zea mays
• ISSN: 1526-4998; 1526-498X; 1526-4998
• DOI: 10.1002/ps.3863

Herbicide-resistant crops have had profound impacts on weed management since they were introduced in 1995. Most of the impact has been by glyphosate-resistant maize, cotton, soybean, and canola. Significant economic savings, yield increases, and more efficacious and simplified weed management resulted in widespread adoption of the technology. Initially, glyphosate-resistant crops enabled significantly reduced tillage and reduced the environmental impact quotient of weed management. Continuous use of glyphosate with glyphosate-resistant crops over broad areas facilitated the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, which have resulted in increases in the use of tillage and other herbicides with glyphosate, reducing some of the initial environmental benefits of glyphosate-resistant crops. Transgenic crops with resistance to auxinic herbicides, as well as to herbicides that inhibit acetolactate synthase, acetylCoA carboxylase, and hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, stacked with glyphosate and/or glufosinate resistance, will become available in the next few years. These technologies will provide additional options for farmers, but will not have the positive impacts that glyphosate-resistant crops had initially. In the more distant future, other herbicide-resistant crops (including non-transgenic ones), herbicides with new modes of action, and technologies that are currently in their infancy (e.g., bioherbicides, sprayable herbicidal RNAi, and/or robotic weeding) may impact the role of transgenic, herbicide-resistant crops in weed management.