Abstract
ABSTRACT: Experiments were run in a greenhouse where samples of Eragrostis pilosa and Eragrostis plana, species that infest rice crops, were subjected to three soil moisture conditions (50% of soil water retention capacity (WRC), 100% of WRC, 10 cm water depth), simulating three different environments (upland, lowland and irrigated rice farm, respectively), with the aim of studying how these conditions affect the morphology and vegetative cycle of these plants, by means of development and growth assessments. Results show that each species responds differently when subjected to varying amounts of water in the soil. Soaking the soil with 10 cm of water was the treatment that most negatively influenced the development of E. plana plants, reducing the formation of panicles per plant, as well as the aerial part dry mass. The responses of E. pilosa plants to the waterlogged environment manifested as reductions in tillering parameters, number of panicles per plant, root and aerial part dry mass, changes in flag leaf formation, and vegetative cycle increases, which allows inferring that these plants are more sensitive to hypotoxic environments. Thus, the water depth treatment is possibly what caused negative effects on the development of the study plants, which indicates that water management in irrigated rice farming is of uttermost importance for management of invasive plants.
Highlights
Poaceae (Gramineae) is one of the largest families among the Angiosperms, composed of species found in several ecosystems around the world, with 18 grass species documented in Brazil (Shirasuna, 2015)
The E. plana Nees species, popularly known as South-African lovegrass, as a reference to its place of origin, was introduced in Rio Grande do Sul in the 1950s as a forage species, but it has been causing serious problems to crops (Dotta Filho et al, 2017). This species presents high prolificity, rusticity, mechanical resistance to traction, and ability to adapt to poor soils, characteristics that make it highly competitive and easy to adapt to the environment (Favaretto et al, 2015)
The objective of this research was to assess the influence of different soil moisture conditions on plants of species Eragrostis, as well as the morphological and phenological differentiations of E. plana and E. pilosa plants when subjected to these soil moisture conditions
Summary
Poaceae (Gramineae) is one of the largest families among the Angiosperms, composed of species found in several ecosystems around the world, with 18 grass species documented in Brazil (Shirasuna, 2015). The E. plana Nees species, popularly known as South-African lovegrass, as a reference to its place of origin, was introduced in Rio Grande do Sul in the 1950s as a forage species, but it has been causing serious problems to crops (Dotta Filho et al, 2017). This species presents high prolificity, rusticity, mechanical resistance to traction, and ability to adapt to poor soils, characteristics that make it highly competitive and easy to adapt to the environment (Favaretto et al, 2015). This plant is capable of surviving to flooded and disturbed environments, adapts well to poor sandy soils or clay soils, and the main characteristic that makes it distinctive in the field compared to other species of the genus is its greyish-red inflorescence (Kissmann, 1997)
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