Life history traits of an Echinochloa crus-galli var. crus-galli population with extreme adaptations to rice planting systems

Abstract

Long-term herbicide application may facilitate the adaptive evolution of weed populations. With Echinochloa crus-galli var. crus-galli population A from a rice field used for the experiment of effectiveness of herbicide in Nanling County, Anhui Province, we conducted common garden experi-ments with seeds of population A and three control populations collected from normal rice fields. Compared with the three control populations, population A had significantly lower seed production for individual plant, but higher 1000-seed weight. Population A had faster in seedling growth, higher in number of reproductive tillers, shorter life span, lower in height and biomass of individual plant, as well as lower in sensitivity to herbicide penoxsulam. Individuals from population A survived from 2× label dose (60 g·hm-2) of penoxsulam treatment at the three- to four-leaf stage showed significantly reduction in plant height, biomass, and mature seed production (1066 seeds per plant), but no difference in heading period, number of reproductive tillers, number of seeds per raceme and 1000-seed weight. The short lifespan, heavy seeds, dwarf architecture, more reproductive tillers and penoxsulam resistance made E. crus-galli var. crus-galli population A extremely adapting to rice planting systems, which should be prevented to spread to normal rice fields.