NSP - Echinochloa crus-galli
 

ECHINOCHLOA CRUS-GALLI (L.) Beauv. 

 

 

Family: Poaceae

Synonyms: Echinochloa muricata (L.)P.B.

Common names: Barnyardgrass, arrocillo, cola de caballo, patte de poule, pied de coq.

E. crus-galli is a variable annual species having many forms which differ in overall size, size and branching of inflorescence, degree of awning, bristliness of spikelets and in the crowding of spikelets along branches.

The leaves are linear, sheath of lower leaves is hairy. The inflorescence is 10-20 cm long, usually erect. Plant height is up to 100 cm, erect. It lacks ligule.

The plant prevails in wet conditions and it is one of the most important weed in paddy. E. crus-galli propagates by seeds. A single plant may produce as many as 40,000 seeds The primary source of infestation of many weeds including E. crus-galli is impure crop seed. The use of good quality rice seed free of weed seeds helps prevent the spread of weed infestations.

Although Echinochloa spp. differ from rice in the almost total lack of any ligule or auricle, the seedlings are otherwise morphologically similar and are often transplanted from the seedling nursery along with rice seedlings, causing serious competition. Herbicides, such as thiobencarb, butachlor, pretilachlor + fenclorim, propanil, and quinclorac + bensulfuron, can be used for selective control of E. crus-galli in rice seedling nurseries

Land preparation, planting date, planting method, cultivar grown, plant spacing, and fertilizer management can all be manipulated as integral parts of a program to control E. crus-galli. These aid not only in suppressing the weed but are equally beneficial in enhancing rice seedling establishment and growth. A vigorous rice crop will suppress many weed seedlings minimizing the need for other weed control methods.

Some forms of E. crus-galli can germinate under water but most cannot and emergence and growth are increasingly suppressed by increased depth of submergence. When the water depth reaches 15 cm, E. crus-galli stops growing and most of the plants die. However, flooding rice fields with as little as 2-3 cm water after planting will give good control of this grass weed.

Conversely, lowering the floodwater or complete field draining encourages the establishment of E. crus-galli. Exposure of the soil long enough to allow secondary root development in E. crus-galli seedlings also reduces herbicide effectiveness   Manual weeding by hand, foot or simple hand tools is the most common method of controlling E. crus-galli in rice throughout the tropics. These methods can be very effective but are generally very time consuming and laborious. In some areas, there is a scarcity of labor required for hand weeding and labor costs have increased greatly.

Many herbicides that are applied for general weed control in rice give good control of E. crus-galli. Repeated use of propanil in rice has led to the development of propanil resistant biotypes of Echinocloa colona in several countries, such as Greece (1986), USA (1991), Sri Lanka (1997). In such cases, rotation of herbicides should be used as part of the weed management program.

Other cases of resistance are for thiobencarb and butachlor in rice in China (1993), for pendimethalin in orchards in Bulgaria (1992), for atrazine in USA (1978), Canada (1981), Spain (1992) in cropland and corn, and Poland (1995) in orchards.

E. crus-galli is a major weed of most rice-growing regions of the world, including temperate areas such as North America and Europe. It is also a troublesome weed of many other crops. Surprisingly it is not found in Central America.

Countries: Bangladesh, Chile, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea (South), Philippines, Syria, Thailand, Uruguay , Vietnam

 

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