The Similarity of Barnyardgrass Weed in Lowland Rice Fields Based on Seed Characteristics.

IN LOWLAND rice areas, the presence of barnyardgrass weed (Echinochloa crusgalli) is disadvantageous to Indonesian farmers and requires an initial assessment and identification of characteristics for management. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain the characteristics and similarities of barnyardgrass accessions from lowland rice fields based on the morphological characteristics of the seed. A descriptive-analytical method was used to determine the barnyardgrass characteristics of 45 accessions from nine sub-districts in Serdang Bedagai and one accession from Medan City (MDN), Indonesia, as a comparison. This study was conducted from May to August 2022 and the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's test at P<0.05. The hierarchical cluster and constellation plot were generated using Ward's method. The results showed that 45 accessions of barnyardgrass from lowland rice fields had sizes of upper glume, lower glume, upper lemma, flag leaf length, and flag leaf width ranging from 2.93 to 4.33mm, 1.45 to 1.96mm, 0.03 to 17.10mm, 22.77 to 45.40cm, and 0.53 to 1.13cm, respectively. Among all accessions, only PG4 accession was nearest (1.825) to MDN. Furthermore, there were five clusters with 13 accessions including SB4; PC1; PC5; PG3; PG4; BK1; BK3; BK5; PB1; PB2; TB2; TB1; and TT2, classified in the same cluster as MDN. This information is very important as an initial reference for farmers in the management of barnyardgrass weeds in their lowland rice fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]