CCM: Resistant weed problem helps realize industrialization of herbicide-resistant crops 07-11-2016

The problem of resistant weeds, especially weeds that are resistant to glyphosate, is becoming worse in China because of the high herbicide use. Therefore, the evolution and occurrence tendency of resistant weeds are attracting attention.


At the end of March 2016, the China Society of Plant Protection and the Institute of Plant Protection, Academy of Agricultural Sciences of China jointly held the 2nd Exchange Meeting of the Development, Promotion and Application of Herbicide.


At the meeting, experts stated that China will rank 3rd in the world regarding the number of pesticide-resistant weeds in the country, after Australia and the US. Meanwhile, they believed that China will realize the industrialization of herbicide-resistant weeds in the future. 


Resistant weeds are growing rapidly in China


It is reported that the areas of resistant weeds in major crops are expanding year by year in China. Liang Diyun, researcher of the National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center disclosed that China's resistant weeds will keep growing rapidly and this will inhibit the prevention and control of weeds in fields.


From 2010 to 2014, the occurrence areas of weeds increased from 90.67 million ha (1.36 billion mu) to 99.33 million ha (1.49 billion mu), a rise of 9.6%.


The single use of herbicide in each region and the frequency of planting structure adjustment results in the evolution and variation of weeds. Research shows that the weeds in paddy fields of Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces were mainly annual weeds, but have now evolved into perennial weeds.


The damage caused by weeds like Sagittaria trifolia Linn., Alisma plantago-aquatica Linn. and Monochoria korsakowii is severe. The evolution of weeds and the rapid development of resistant weeds seriously threaten the development of the herbicide industry.


In 2009-2014, the number of biological types of resistant weeds increased from 15 to 41, increasing by 1.7 times within 6 years. At present there is a total 41 biological types including 27 kinds of weeds that have resistance to 10 chemical herbicides in China.


Liu Ducai,a researcher at Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences said that China now has many kinds of resistant weeds. A proportion of barnyard grass in double cropping rice regions has high resistance to frequently-used herbicides like quinclorac, penoxsulam and bispyribac-sodium.


The resistance of some broad-leaf weeds like Monochoria vaginalis and Cyperus rotundus L. is serious, and the resistance of Chinese sprangletop is increasing annually.


According to the crop protection stations in Nanling County (Anhui Province), Xuanzhou District (Xuanzhou City) and Yuanjiang City (Hunan Province), the occurrence areas of resistant barnyard grass account for about 50% of the sowing areas of rice.


The figure in other counties (cities, districts) also exceeds 20%. It is estimated that the occurrence areas of penoxsulam-resistant barnyardgrass exceed 200,000 ha (3 million mu) in rice fields in Anhui, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces.




Herbicide-resistant crops help the herbicide industry to develop


Li Zhengxian, Deputy Secretary General of China Crop Protection Industry Association said that China should pay attention to the R&D of herbicide-resistant crops to simplify the weeding process, ensure the safety of rice seedlings and to achieve effective yield increases.


In the last 5 years, the planting areas of genetically modified (GM) crops has increased. From 1996 to 2014, the figure increased by over 100 times, totaling about 1.8 billion ha. The development of GM crops will change the application structure of pesticides. Regarding GM wheat, it is forecasted that the cultivation of GM wheat will greatly impact the families of wheat herbicides, wheat insecticides and wheat fungicides in the coming 8-10 years.


Ni Hanwen, a professor at the College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University disclosed that China's herbicide consumption will rise steadily and agrochemical enterprises will gravitate towards cultivating herbicide-resistant GM crops.


As the planting areas of GM crops increase, the planting of GM crops will change the market shares of herbicides, and change the sales of herbicides. In the future, the herbicides may be bundled with seeds for sale.


Large-scale production will be realized gradually in China's agriculture industry as the labor force in rural areas is moving into cities. In order to increase the international competitiveness of agricultural products and to address the shortage of suitable herbicides for multiple crops especially micro crops, China is very likely to achieve the commercialization of herbicide-resistant GM crops in the coming future.


Currently, the glyphosate-resistant crop areas take up over 95% of the herbicide-resistant crop areas in the world. Among the 39 GM crops newly approved in year 2010, 24 were glyphosate-resistant crops, over 60% of the total.


Besides glyphosate-resistant soybean, corn and cotton which are widely planted around the world, glyphosate-resistant beet, peanut, wheat and tomato are being developed and will gradually be planted commercially. The development of these herbicide-resistant crops injects fresh vitality into the traditional herbicide market.


This article comes from Herbicides China News 1604, CCM




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Tag: glyphosate herbicide


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