Tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides in wheat.

An imidazolinone-tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell) mutant in the winter wheat cultivar Fidel has been identified and characterized. The mutant was isolated from a population derived through seed mutagenesis of the variety with an aqueous solution containing sodium azide. Imidazolinone-tolerant wheat seedlings were selected from the M(2) generation of the population in the presence of imazethapyr herbicide and identified as herbicide-insensitive individuals. The trait is inherited as a single semidominant gene and confers high levels of tolerance to imazethapyr. Acetohydroxyacid synthase activity in extracts from imidazolinonetolerant plants was less inhibited by imazethapyr than the enzyme from the wild type. The herbicide-tolerant plants have a completely normal phenotype and display no negative effects on growth and yield in either the absence or presence of imazethapyr.