Echinochloa colona (L.) Link - POACEAE - Monocotyledon

Basionym : Panicum colonum L.

Common name : awnless barnyard grass, jungle rice.

Botany Biology Phenology Ecology Distribution Agricultural importance Cultural control Biological control Chemical control

Botany :

Description :

Terrestrial, tufted, erect herb, rooting at nodes. Roots fibrous, white or brown. Stems flat, hairy. Nodes glabrous. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate spiral, sessile linear, more than 2 cm long/wide, apex acute, base clasping, parallel-veined. Leaf sheath present. Ligule absent. Flowers bisexual, grouped together in a terminal spike or panicle, sessile, purple or brown, petals not visible. Fruit a nut.

This species propagates mostly by seeds but also vegetatively; 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.

Phenology :

Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

Ecology :

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.

Distribution :

Jungle rice has an Indian origin. Now it is widely distributed in tropics and subtropics, including South and Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. .

Agricultural importance :

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 control :

Cultivation during early growth can control the weed. Manual control is difficult in the early stages.

Biological control :

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 control :

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.

References :
-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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