Triazine-susceptible (S) and -resistant (R) biotypes of smooth pigweed (Amaranthus hybridus L.) were grown in the field under competitive conditions at varying initial proportions of S and R plants. R plants were less competitive than S plants as measured by accumulation of total above-ground dry weight and seed dry weight. S and R plants were also grown in the field under non-competitive conditions at 100, 40, and 10% light. Growth rate at 10% light did not differ between S and R plants. At the two higher light intensities, dry-matter accumulation 11 weeks after seeding was about 40% less in the R plants. At 100% light, relative growth rate and net assimilation rate were lower in the R plants by about 3.5 and 19%, respectively. The light- and CO2-saturated rates of CO2 fixation in intact leaves of glasshouse-grown R plants were 20% less than those in S plants. An apparent 10 and 20% greater number of chlorophyll molecules per photosystem II reaction center in R plants (as compared with S plants) grown in the field at 40 and 100% light, respectively, did not explain differences between the S and R biotypes in photo synthetic capacity. The S and R plants did not differ in specific leaf weight or chlorophyll content on a leaf-area basis. Lower growth rate of R plants may be responsible for inferior competitive ability of R biotypes and could be the result of an impaired photosynthetic capacity.

Studies were conducted to determine the growth, fecundity, and competitive ability of an acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase)–inhibitor resistant (R) sterile wild oat biotype compared with a susceptible (S) biotype. Seed germination studies indicated that there were no differences in seed germination and seedling vigor between R and S biotypes at any temperature regime. R and S biotypes were grown under noncompetitive and competitive arrangement in the greenhouse. Under noncompetitive greenhouse conditions, growth of the R biotype was similar to that of the S biotype on the basis of plant height, canopy area, and plant biomass. Seed production and weight of R and S plants were also at the same levels. Furthermore, relative competitiveness among the R and S sterile wild oat biotypes was investigated by means of replacement series experiments. The R and S biotypes were compared under seven mixture proportions (6 : 0, 5 : 1, 4 : 2, 3 : 3, 2 : 4, 1 : 5, and 0 : 6). No significant differences in competitive ability were observed between R and S biotypes on the basis of plant height, canopy area, or plant biomass. In most cases, relative crowding coefficient (RCC) values at 20, 60, and 100 d after transplanting (DAT) were close to one, indicating equal competitiveness between the R and S biotypes of wild oat used in this competitive study. However, in some cases, the RCC value was 1.31 for plant height, evident of a slight competitive advantage for the R biotype at 100 DAT. In general, ACCase-inhibitor R and S sterile wild oat biotypes were equally competitive, clearly without any growth penalty for R plants in either noncompetitive or competitive conditions.