Susceptibility to imazamox in Italian weedy rice populations and Clearfield® rice varieties

The introduction of imidazolinone-tolerant rice varieties has made selective Oryza sativa (weedy rice) control possible. We hypothesised that Italian weedy rice populations have variable degrees of susceptibility to imazamox prior to imidazolinone-tolerant variety introduction. To this end, 149 Italian weedy rice populations collected from fields never before cultivated with imidazolinone-tolerant varieties were tested in a glasshouse-based, whole-plant response screening study. Imazamox was applied to all populations post-emergence at a rate of 70ga.i.ha(-1), resulting in 70-90% shoot biomass reduction in the majority of cases. The results prompted a second study of the seedling dose response of four weedy rice populations from the initial study group. Three imidazolinone-tolerant and one conventional rice variety were also included. The seedling roots were cut six days after germination and exposed to different concentrations of imazamox. The root regrowth associated with each concentration-exposure was then measured. Imazamox concentrations to inhibit weedy rice root growth by 50% varied by about two orders of magnitude, or between 0.0018 and 0.12mm. Even with this result, imidazolinone-tolerant varieties were at least 31.8 times less susceptible than weedy rice populations, suggesting that Italian weedy rice populations were not tolerant to imazamox before introduction of these varieties.