Crop production under changing environment

​

​

Winter annual grasses are the most difficult weeds to control in wheat and result in significant yield reduction. They are highly competitive with wheat plants for water, nutrients, and light. Lolium rigidum Gaudin (annual ryegrass), is a major grass weed infesting cereal crops in Israel and worldwide. L. rigidum is self-incompatibility species, thus, herbicide-resistant can spread very fast in the population. The nature of L. rigidum reproduction prevents us from getting homozygote plants for molecular dissection of herbicide-resistant mechanisms. Brachipodium distachyon (L.) Beauv. is a temperate wild grass species. Its compact genome size, small stature, short growth cycle, self-fertility, and simple growth requirements, make B. distachyon a good model system for an in-depth understanding of herbicide-resistant mechanism functional genomics in grass weeds. Recently we developed a unique collection of above 1000 accessions (“The BrI collection”) which represent a wide range of habitats in Israel. Screening the BrI collection for resistance to four groups of herbicides (PSII, ACCase, ALS, and EPSPS), representing different action mechanisms, revealed candidate lines showing resistance to one (or more) herbicide. These lines open the possibility to understand the resistant mechanism. The obtained result will be validated in L. rigidum plants. Revealing the evolution of molecular and biochemical mechanisms that imbue resistance to herbicides in grass weeds, would give us the ability to handle those resistance's and find solutions that would help the farmers to maintain sustainable agriculture in Israel.