Research

Innovations to control troublesome weeds

Crop Types

Whole Farm

Collaborating Locations

Effective weed management is critical to maximizing harvest efficiency and yield potential for producers and this is achieved by the application of efficacious herbicides (Geddes & Sharpe 2022). These herbicides have become a victim of their own success, as the selection pressure they apply to control weed populations inevitably leads to the evolution of herbicide resistance within those populations. This process is exacerbated by repeated application of the same herbicide group to the same field (Beckie et al., 2019). In addition to the evolution of resistance, there are growing concerns that the number of tools available to producers for effective weed management is dwindling, due to restrictions applied by regulatory bodies to meet safety and marketing constraints. Regulatory constraints are anticipated to tighten as governments respond to environmental concerns and increased public demand for sustainable production practices. There is clearly a need to develop alternative herbicides to support the agriculture sector. This project will evaluate the potential of targeted gene silencing using dsRNA for weed control, specifically targeting the problematic weed kochia, an annual weed that is endemic throughout North America.

Objectives

Generate Kochia gene sequences from prairie isolates

Generate dsRNA to selected genes incorporating necessary safety design protocols.

Generate new RNAi-based herbicides to control troublesome kochia weeds.

Develop application strategies that are practical for the field.