Response of dicamba-resistant Palmer amaranth and cotton to malathion applied in conjunction with dicamba

Abstract

Cotton and soybean growers were offered new technologies in 2016, expanding in-crop herbicide options to include dicamba or 2,4-D. Within three years of commercialization, dicamba use in these crops increased ten-fold and growers began to report Palmer amaranth escapes in dicamba-tolerant production systems in western Tennessee. In 2020, Palmer amaranth seed was collected from eight Tennessee locations where growers witnessed poor control following dicamba. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of these Palmer amaranth populations to dicamba. In 2021, field experiments were conducted on two tentative dicamba-susceptible populations in Georgia, on three confirmed dicamba-resistant populations in Tennessee, and on a tentative dicamba-susceptible population in Texas to evaluate cotton response following dicamba and to examine if malathion insecticide (a cytochrome P450 inhibitor) would improve weed control and not reduce cotton yield when applied in conjunction with dicamba. Palmer amaranth populations collected in 2020 survived dicamba in the greenhouse at 1, 2, and 4 times the labeled rate. There was 15 to 26% survival exhibited by five Palmer amaranth populations to the labeled dicamba rate (560 g ha-1) in the greenhouse. These findings were reinforced in the field when research on three of those populations in 2021 showed 55% control with the labeled dicamba rate and 69% control with 2 times the labeled rate. This demonstrates the dicamba resistance allele or alleles were passed between generations. This result was not consistent in the Macon County or Worth County, GA locations where malathion improved dicamba control of 15- to 38-cm tall Palmer amaranth. Cotton injury was observed when malathion was applied in combination with dicamba. These results further document the evolution of dicamba-resistant Palmer amaranth in Tennessee. Moreover, the non-reversal of resistance phenotype by malathion may suggest that the resistance mechanism is something other than metabolism.