[Influence of weeds in Echinochloa on growth and yield of rice]

In order to investigate effects of different barnyardgrass species on growth and yiled of rice, two rice cultivars, Xinliangyou 6 hao (an indica hybrid cultivar) and Nanjing 46 (a japonica cultivar), were co-cultured with four barnyardgrass species grown at a density of six plants · m(-2) from 10 days after transplanting to maturity. The treatments were designed as follow: weed free (control), rice with Echinochloa crusgalli var. mitis (T1), rice with E. crusgalli (T2), rice with E. crusgali var. zelayensis (T3), and rice with E. colonum (T4). The result showed that barnyardgrass-induced reductions in grain yield of rice were obviously different among the four treatments. T1, T2 and T3 treatments reduced the grain yield of indicia cultivar by 19.2%, 10.8% and 21.9%, and the respective reductions in japonica cultivar were 39.7%, 25.3% and 47.3%, re- spectively. However, no significant difference was detected for T4 treatment. During rice co-culture with barnyardgrass, T1, T2 and T3 significantly reduced rice dry matter accumulation at maturity, flag leaf photosynthetic rate, root oxidation activity and the activity of adenosine triphosphate enzyme (ATPsse) in rice grains at the filling stage, and the magnitude of decrease was in the order of T3 > T1 > T2, while no significant difference was observed between T4 and CK. In addition, all treatments had no effects on the final tiller number and plant height of rice. It indicated that the negative effect of barnyardgrass on rice growth and yield differed among the four species of barnyardgrass, in the order of T3 > T1 > T2 > T4. Barnyardgrass reduced the flag leaf photosynthetic rate of rice, both root oxidation activity and ATPsse activity in grains, which resulted in the reduction in final productivity of rice when co-cultured with barnyardgrass.