Development of herbicide resistant weeds and their impact on future weed management

Herbicide resistance among weeds poses a critical challenge to global agriculture, threatening food security and environmental sustainability. This review highlights herbicide resistance’s evolutionary mechanisms, including target-site and non-target-site adaptations. More than 530 documented cases globally underscore the urgent need for integrated management strategies. Nowadays, farmers are highly relying on chemical weed management to improve crop productivity. Continuous application of herbicides with one mode of action will develop herbicide resistance. Overuse of herbicides will develop selection pressure among the weed population. Herbicide resistance is spreading through the seeds, movement of farm implements, and animals. Interestingly, the resistant characteristics of a weed population will also spread through pollen-mediated gene transfer. Emerging technologies such as drone-based spectral imaging, deep learning, and machine learning offer promising avenues for the early detection of resistant weed populations. Using herbicides with many sites of action will be a more reliable method to manage weeds than applying herbicides with a single site of action. Integrated Weed Management (IWM) and precision agriculture tools represent the most sustainable pathway to delay resistance evolution. Future research must prioritize alternative weed control practices, advanced breeding methods, and farmer education to sustain agricultural productivity.