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In little over 20 yr, Palmer amaranth has risen from relative obscurity to its current status as one of the most widespread, troublesome, and economically damaging agronomic weeds in the southeastern U.S. Numerous factors have enabled Palmer amaranth to become such a dominant and difficult-to-control weed, including its rapid growth rate, high fecundity, genetic diversity, ability to tolerate adverse conditions, and its facility for evolving herbicide resistance. It is both a serious threat to several U.S. cropping systems and a fascinating model weed. In this paper, we review the growing body of literature on Palmer amaranth to summarize the current state of knowledge on the biology, agricultural impacts, and management of this weed, and we suggest future directions for research.
Nomenclature: Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats. AMAPA.
Key words: Biology, genetics, physiology, herbicide resistance, crop interference, integrated management.
En poco más de 20 ãnos, Amaranthus palmeri ha salido de una relativa oscuridad a su estado actual como una de las malezas agrícolas más ampliamente distribuida, más problemática y económicamente dãnina en el sureste de los Estados Unidos. Numerosos factores le han permitido a A. palmeri convertirse en una maleza tan dominante y difícil de controlar, incluyendo su rápida tasa de crecimiento, alta fecundidad, diversidad genética, habilidad para tolerar condiciones adversas, y su facilidad para evolucionar resistencia a herbicidas. Es una amenaza para varios sistemas de cultivos en los Estados Unidos, pero tambíen es una maleza modelo fascinante. En este artículo, revisamos la cantidad creciente de literatura sobre A. palmeri para resumir el estado actual de conocimiento sobre la biología, impactos agrícolas, y manejo de esta maleza, y sugerimos futuras direcciones para su investigacíon.
Palmer amaranth is an annual forb native to the area encompassing northwestern Mexico and southern California to New Mexico and Texas (Sauer 1957). It has a long history of human association and use in the arid southwest; Palmer amaranth leaves cooked as greens and meal made from the ground seed were consumed by several Native American tribes including the Navajo, Pima, Yuma, and Mohave (Moerman 1998). Palmer amaranth started to spread beyond its original range in the early 20th century, probably because of human activity transporting seeds or creating new habitats through agricultural expansion; it was first reported in...