Influence of herbicides applied postharvest in wheat stubble on control, fecundity, and progeny fitness of Kochia scoparia in the US Great Plains

• Late-season herbicides were applied at the early-bloom stage of Kochia scoparia.
• Dicamba-based herbicides were not effective for late-season K. scoparia control.
• Addition of atrazine to dicamba reduced weed seed viability and seed weight.
• Effective herbicides for late-season K. scoparia control/seed prevention discussed.
• An important strategy to manage herbicide-resistant K. scoparia seed bank.

Field, greenhouse, and laboratory experiments were conducted at the Montana State University Southern Agricultural Research Center, Huntley, MT, USA, in 2012 and 2013, to evaluate the effectiveness of various postharvest-applied herbicides on late-season control, fecundity, seed viability, and progeny fitness of Kochia scoparia (kochia) in wheat stubble. Paraquat + atrazine, paraquat + linuron, and paraquat + metribuzin applied at the early bloom stage were the most effective postharvest treatments for late-season control (100%) at 28 d after treatment (DAT), biomass reduction (70–73%), and seed prevention of K. scoparia, and did not differ from glyphosate, glufosinate, saflufenacil + 2, 4-D, saflufenacil + atrazine, tembotrione + atrazine, or topramezone + atrazine treatments. Dicamba alone, dicamba + 2, 4-D, or diflufenzopyr + dicamba + 2, 4-D applied at the early bloom stage were ineffective, with <70% late-season control, <45% biomass reduction, and <55% seed reduction of K. scoparia. In the absence of a postharvest herbicide, uncontrolled kochia plants at a density of 8–10 plants m−2 contributed >100,000 seeds m−2. Addition of atrazine to dicamba improved late-season control (80%) and seed reduction (78%) compared to dicamba alone, and reduced seed viability and 100-seed weight. There was no significant effect of any of the dicamba-containing herbicides applied at the early bloom stage on K. scoparia progeny fitness, including height, width, primary branches, and shoot dry weight of seedlings at 42 d after planting (DAP). The effective postharvest-applied herbicides investigated in this research should be utilized to prevent late-season K. scoparia seed bank replenishment in wheat, and as a component of herbicide resistance management program for the containment of glyphosate- and/or acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibitor-resistant K. scoparia in wheat-based crop rotations in the US Great Plains.