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Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauv. |
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Graminae Panicum crus-galli (L.). Barnyard millet (Australia), water grass (United States), cockspur grass (South Australia), song chang (Viet Nam). An annual with more or less robust culms ascending to 105 cm from a geniculate base; spikelets 3-4 mm, crowded in the racemes, which are often branched; panicle dense and stiffly erect (Henty, 1969). The basal sheaths are commonly purplish, owing to the folding together of the sides of the sheaths (Burbidge, 1968). A worldwide weed of cultivation in the tropics. Summer. Sea-level to 2 500 m. It will grow in a variety of soils in wet situations, but is usually found on silts and clays in ponds and depressions. To control chemically, use a pre-emergence spray of 2,4-D sodium salt at 4.5 kg/ha of an 840 g AI/kg product (e.g. Hormicide). No wetting agent is required when used as a pre-emergent spray. Use a minimum of 340 litres of water per hectare. To kill young plants, spray with paraquat at 570 ml of a 200 g AI/I product (e.g. Gramoxone) per 200 litres water plus surfactant at 250 ml/200 l water. Spray to a point of run-off. For advanced plants give one spraying with 2.2- DPA at 2.3 kg of 740 g AI/kg product (e.g. Shirpon, Dowpon) plus 250 ml wetting agent per 200 litres water. Thoroughly wet the plants (Tilley, 1977). In the Ord River valley, northern Australia, E. colona and E. crus-galli were controlled with Stam F-34 (3,4 - dichloropropionanilide) at 3.25-7.5 kg active ingredient per hectare, two to three weeks after emergence. Dry-matter and green-matter yields At Laguna, the Philippines, Furoc and Javier (1976) gathered 3.88-11.07 t/ha green weeds (chiefly E. crus-galli) from a rice field from the first to the last weeding. Its rapid germination and growth provide nutritious and succulent forage. Its problem as a weed in rice. Flowering is accelerated by short days (Evans, Wardlaw & Williams, 1964). Freshwater swamps. Excellent. It often grows in standing water and is the main weed in rice paddies throughout the world. 2n=36, 42, 48, 54, 72 (Fedorov, 1974). It is the world's worst weed in paddy rice. It is a useful forage plant for all herbivorous animals and the grain is eaten by humans in times of want. It is relished by stock everywhere, and where it does not interfere with cropping it is valued for grazing, especially for dry-season forage when other grasses on dry land have matured. It is an important grazing plant for buffaloes in Viet Nam. In the Philippines, Furoc and Javier (1976) considered that one farmer could collect sufficient weeds to feed four steers daily from 0.43 hectares of weed-infested rice. The seed germinates with the sown rice, but cannot germinate in water deeper than 15 cm, so flooding the rice field with water to this depth will give the rice seedlings an advantage.
Grass genera of the world: Information about botany, ecology etc. of the Eriochloa genus; links to photographs and drawings Seaman et al., 1968. |
