Two decades of herbicide-tolerant crops in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The breeding of herbicide-tolerant crops (HTC) has been going on in Serbia for almost three decades, and cultivation has been a tradition for two decades. In Serbia, it is allowed to cultivate plants that are tolerant to certain herbicides and have been obtained using conventional breeding methods without the use of genetic engineering. These are sunflowers, oilseed rape and sugar beet, which are tolerant to some ALS inhibitors, as well as maize, which is tolerant to cycloxydim. With the exception of sunflower, which is tolerant to tribenuron-methyl and imidazolinone and occupies over 80% of the arable land of this crop in the Republic of Serbia, the other HTC are represented on smaller areas (1-17%). The potential of these crops is often not used in the best way, and the main challenge and threat are weeds that are resistant to herbicides to which these crops are tolerant. A big problem for the sustainability of growing these crops in Serbia is that growers of these crops rely mainly on herbicides to which they are tolerant and neglect other measures of integrated weed management (IWM). In order to protect these resources as part of IWM, growers' knowledge of best cultivation practices, their benefits and risks must be improved. As a double-edged sword, HTCs allow growers to improve the rotation of herbicides with different modes of action and the control of certain herbicide-resistant weeds, but they can also lead to overuse of herbicides to which they are tolerant and influence the selection of resistant weeds and the shift in weed flora. flora. Herbicides and HTC are very important resources of modern crop production, but only in the context of IWM and without excessive use of these crops and herbicides to which they are tolerant.