Synonymes : Echinochloa crus-galli P. Beauv. subsp. colonum Honda, E. verticillata Berhaut, Panicum colonum L., P. cumingianum Steud.
Common name : Junglerice
Common name in Bengali : Alighasha, khudhey shayma, shymaghas
Common name in Hindi : Janguli, kavada, sawak, sawank, sharma
Common name in Urdu : Swanki, kala swank
Bangla English Hindi Urdu
Diagnostic characters
Biology
Ecology and distribution
Nuisance
Weed control
Botany
Uses/Remark
References
Jungle rice is an erect or trailing annual or perennial grass. Culms usually 20-100cm in length in large tufts, rooting at the lower nodes. Sometimes purple bands appear across leaves.
This species propagates mostly by seeds; one jungle rice plant can produce 3000 to 6000 seeds. It germinates during the rainy season or when water levels are on the rise and dies out during the dry season. The flowering arrive 3 or 4 weeks after germination, quickly followed by fructification and the first seeds come to maturity 45 days later.
Jungle rice is adapted to full sunlight or partial shade and grows on loam, silt and clay soils. It grows in drains, low-lying grasslands, and farmlands, in both dry and marshy places. This species is one of the most important weeds of upland rice under moist conditions. It occurs most commonly at low altitudes but can extend up to about 2000m.
Jungle rice has an Indian origin. Now it is widely distributed in tropics and subtropics, including South and Southeast Asia. It is common in upland rice in India and present at all consortium sites.
E. colona is an important weed not only of rice crop but also sugarcane, cotton, maize, etc. It is mostly present at the middle and at the end of cultural cycle. Because it resembles rice in the seedling stage it is sometimes transplanted into the fields with the crop. This weed is an excellent competitor and if rice culture is badly managed the crop may be forced out by increasing numbers of this weedy plant.
- Cultural
Cultivation during early growth can control the weed. Manual control is difficult in the early stages.
Biological
In Japan, the pathogen Exserohilum monoceras is being evaluated as a bioherbicide for control of Echinochloa species in rice. In the Philippines, E. monoceras killed seedlings of E. colona but did not affect rice.
- Chemical
E. colona can be controlled by pre-emergence application of butachlor at 1.5 kg a.I/ha, Anilophos at 400 g/ha, Pretilachlor at 1.0 kg/ha, Pendimethalin at 1.5 kg/ha.
Habit
Erect or trailing annual or perennial grass.
Roots
Fibrous roots. Culms usually rooting at the lower nodes by adventitious roots.
Stem
Cylindrical, glabrous and finely ridged longitudinally. It is greenish to purplish. The nodes are glabrous and of dark colour.
Leaves
Alternate. The leaf sheath is glabrous, compressed and with a carina slightly marked. Ligule absent. Blades loose, glabrous, 3 to 30cm long, 2 to 13mm wide. The main vein has a round carina. The margin is smooth. Sometimes purple bands appear across blades.
Inflorescence
Panicle, 1 to 15cm long, composed of 1 to 6 spikes, 5 to 15cm long, pressed to the stem or directed upward. It has numerous spikelets ranged in 2 to 4 irregular rows along spike rachis, crowded, nearly sessile, hairy, with short awn or no awn at all, green or purple glumes.
Seeds
Grains free, white to yellowish, oval or oblong, with ends regularly rounded and 2mm long.
Seedling
The first leaves have a linear and flat blade, 3 to 10cm long and 3 to 6mm wide. The leaf sheath and the blade are glabrous and the main vein has a round carina.
- Grard P., Le Bourgeois T., Merlier H. 1996. Adventrop - Doc V.1.1. Les adventices d’Afrique soudano-sahélienne. CD-Rom, Cirad-Ca. Montpellier, France.
- Galinato M., Moody K., Piggin C. M. 1999. Upland rice weeds of South and Southeast Asia. IRRI. Philippines.
- Nayyar M. M., Ashiq M. and Ahmad J. 2001. Manual on Punjab weeds (Part I). Directorate of Agronomy. Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad Pakistan.
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