Local spread of metamitron resistant Chenopodium album L. patches.

Molecular markers can provide valuable information on the spread of resistant weed biotypes. In particular, tracing local spread of resistant weed patches will give details on the importance of seed migration with machinery, manure, wind or birds. This study investigated the local spread of metamitron resistant Chenopodium album L. patches in the southwest region of the province West-Flanders (Belgium). During the summer of 2009, leaf and seed samples were harvested in 27 patches, distributed over 10 sugar beet fields and 1 maize field. The fields were grouped in four local clusters. Each cluster corresponded with the farmer who cultivated these fields. A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) procedure identified the Ser264 to Gly mutation in the D1 protein, endowing resistance to metamitron, a key herbicide applied in sugar beet. The majority of the sampled plants within a patch (97% on average) carried this mutation. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was performed with 4 primer pairs and yielded 270 molecular markers, polymorphic for the whole dataset (303 samples). Analysis of molecular variance revealed that a significant part of the genetic variability was attributed to variation among the four farmer locations (12 %) and variation among Chenopodium album patches within the farmer locations (14%). In addition, Mantel tests revealed a positive correlation between genetic distances (linearised phipt between pairs of patches) and geographic distances (Mantel-coefficient significant at p = 0.002), suggesting isolation-by-distance. In one field, a decreased genetic diversity and strong genetic relationships between all the patches in this field supported the hypothesis of a recent introduction of resistant biotypes. Furthermore, genetic similarity between patches from different fields from the same farmer and from different farmers indicated that seed transport between neighbouring fields is likely to have an important impact on the spread of metamitron resistant biotypes.