Diversity of agro-morphological traits of selected Philippine weedy rice accessions

Mendoza, Johannes K.; Ramirez, Analiza Henedina M.

Diversity of agro-morphological traits of selected Philippine weedy rice accessions

Autores

Mendoza, Johannes K.

Ramirez, Analiza Henedina M.

Editor

Sociedade Brasileira da Ciência das Plantas Daninhas

Descripción

Weedy rice (WR) is a major weed of cultivated rice (CR), particularly difficult to manage early on due to its morphological similarity to CR. Understanding its agronomic traits requires analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, best addressed through multivariate analysis that capture the complexity and interrelationships among diverse traits beyond univariate methods. A study was conducted to characterize the agronomic traits of selected Philippine WR accessions from various provinces, identify key traits contributing to phenotypic variation, and classify WR accessions into distinct groups. The study evaluated 16 accessions, including 15 WR accessions and IR64 as the control. Plants were grown in a screenhouse, with each accession replicated 10 times in pots. Eighteen agro-morphological traits, including vegetative, structural, seed morphological, and phenological traits, were assessed. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences between WR and CR, and among WR accessions. WR was generally taller with longer culms than CR, though some accessions, such as WR7 and WR62, matched IR64 in height. Most WR accessions matured earlier than CR. Factor analysis on mixed data (FAMD) showed that 100-seed weight, days to flowering, panicle initiation, maturity, plant height, culm length, leaf length, and pericarp color contributed most to the variation. WR accessions were clustered into six groups based on flowering time, maturity, awn length, tiller count, leaf width, culm length, height, leaf length, and pericarp color. This study provides insights into the phenotypic diversity of Philippine WR accessions, offering a better understanding of trait relationships that can inform targeted weed management strategies.