The continuous weed control with herbicides of only one site of action selects biotypes resistant to these herbicides. Four experiments were conducted in greenhouse of UFRGS, Brazil, to confirm the occurence of wild poinsettia (Euphorbia heterophylla) biotypes resistance to herbicides inhibitors of acetholactate synthase (ALS), and to determine whether there was cross resistance to herbicides with other site of action. A biotype from Passo Fundo -RS was resistant to imazethapyr, whereas a biotype from Porto Alegre -RS was susceptible to this compound. The biotype from Passo Fundo was resistant to the following ALS-inhibitors: imazapyr, imazaquin, imazethapyr, chlorimuron, nicosulfuron, metsulfuron e flumetsulan. This biotype was not resistant to herbicides from the following modes of action: EPSPs inhibitors, auxin agonists, fotossystems I and II inhibitors, and PROTOX inhibitors. The confirmation of resistance to ALS inhibitors in biotypes from Não-me-Toque, Passo Fundo and Rio Pardo suggests a wide spread of wild poinsettia resistance to compounds of this mode of action in the Rio Grande do Sul state.
Euphorbia heterophylla; imidazolinone; sulfonylurea; sulfonanilide; herbicide resistance