Leaf Anatomy of Lolium multiflorum Sensitive and Resistant to Glyphosate

This work aimed to contribute to the anatomical knowledge of the species Lolium multiflorum and to observe possible changes that may elucidate the mechanism that confers its resistance to the herbicide glyphosate. Thus, an experiment was conducted using four biotypes of this species with distinct sensitivities to the herbicide glyphosate: one susceptible (B1S) and three resistant biotypes (B2R, B3R and B4R). Analyses were conducted on the transverse and longitudinal sections of the vegetative organs of the plants at the tillering stage. Anatomically, ryegrass is characterized as having a large number of stomata and buliform cells as well as homogeneous mesophylls constituted only of palisade cells compactly distributed. Comparatively, no evident morphological differences occur that can be used to distinguish sensitive from resistant biotypes; however, the resistant biotypes, especially B3R B4R, presented higher stomatal density, compared to the others. Still, the resistant biotypes had a higher amount of intercellular spaces in the mesophyll and vascular bundles with a smaller amount of phloem compared to the xylem, which, because of their functions in the plants, may contribute to the lower sensitivity to the herbicide.