Resistance to herbicides in the broadleaf weeds Raphanus raphanistrum, Sisymbrium orientale, and Sonchus oleraceus as determined by random weed surveys in south-eastern Australia

John C. Broster; Peter Boutsalis; Gurjeet S. Gill; Christopher Preston

doi:10.1071/CP25041

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Resistance to herbicides in the broadleaf weeds Raphanus raphanistrum, Sisymbrium orientale, and Sonchus oleraceus as determined by random weed surveys in south-eastern Australia

John C. Broster

^A ^* , Peter Boutsalis ^B , Gurjeet S. Gill ^B and Christopher Preston

^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Gulbali Institute for Agriculture Water Environment, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.

^B School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: jbroster@csu.edu.au

Handling Editor: Roger Armstrong

Crop & Pasture Science 76, CP25041 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP25041

Submitted: 17 February 2025 Accepted: 19 May 2025 Published: 20 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Broadleaf weeds infest crops and reduce crop yield. The use of herbicides to control these weeds results in the evolution of herbicide resistance.

Aims

There is limited information about the extent and distribution of herbicide resistance in broadleaf weeds in south-eastern Australia, so a survey was conducted to provide this information for three key broadleaf weeds of this region.

Methods

A survey of three broadleaf weeds of grain crops collected wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum), Indian hedge mustard (Sisymbrium orientale), and sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) across south-eastern Australia between 2013 and 2017. Samples were screened for resistance to commonly used herbicides.

Key results

A total of 1760 fields were visited with 74 R. raphanistrum, 95 S. orientale, and 488 S. oleraceus seed samples collected. Resistance to the ALS-inhibiting herbicide chlorsulfuron was most common in these species, present in 66% of S. oleraceus, 34% of S. orientale, and 17% of R. raphanistrum samples tested. R. raphanistrum and S. orientale also had samples resistant to atrazine, diflufenican and 2,4-D. No resistance to glyphosate was found in any species. Multiple resistance to two or more herbicide modes of action was present in all three species.

Conclusions

Herbicide resistance was identified in all three weed species in all the states where they were collected. All species had resistance to more than one herbicide mode of action.

Implications

While the frequency of resistance in these broadleaf weeds in south-eastern Australia is low to most herbicides, the accumulation of multiple resistance means that alternative management strategies will be required to effectively manage these weeds.

Keywords: 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorsulfuron, diflufenican, glyphosate, Indian hedge mustard, multiple resistance, sowthistle, wild radish.

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