Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T13:22:08.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Importance of SeedBanks for Establishment of Newly Introduced Weeds—a Case Study of Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Paul B. Cavers
Affiliation:
Dep. Plant Sciences, Univ. West. Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5B7
Marguerite Kane
Affiliation:
Dep. Plant Sciences, Univ. West. Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5B7
James J. O'Toole
Affiliation:
Centralia Coll. of Agricultural Technol., Huron Park, Ontario, Canada, N0M 1Y0

Abstract

Proso millet has become a major weed in North America during the past 20 yr. Experiments were conducted to assess the role of the soil seedbank in proso millet's success as a weed. Proso millet has at least eight distinct biotypes, all weeds, which exhibit a wide range of seedbank behavior. At one extreme, weed biotypes resembling crop varieties form transient seedbanks where all viable seed germinate or die before newly ripened seed enter the seedbank. In contrast, the black- and dark-red-seeded biotypes form persistent seedbanks that last several years in the soil. These latter seedbanks differ from those previously described in that there is always a fraction of the seedbank that is not capable of immediate germination. The black-seeded biotype of proso millet can establish a persistent seedbank quickly and that makes the weed very difficult to eradicate.

Type
Special Topics
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Bough, M. A., Colosi, J. C., and Cavers, P. B. 1986. The major weedy biotypes of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum). Can. J. Bot. 64:11881198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Cavers, P. B. and Bough, M. A. 1985. Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.)—a crop and a weed. Pages 143155 in White, J., ed. Studies on Plant Demography: A Festschrift for John L. Harper. Academic Press.Google Scholar
3. Cavers, P. B. and Kane, M. 1990. Responses of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) seedlings to mechanical damage and/or drought treatment. Weed Technol 4:425432.Google Scholar
4. Colosi, J. C., Cavers, P. B., and Bough, M. A. 1988. Dormancy and survival in buried seeds of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum). Can. J. Bot. 66:161168.Google Scholar
5. Fenner, M. 1985. Pages 6162 in Seed Ecology. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Harper, J. L. 1977. Pages 65, 75 in Population Biology of Plants. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
7. Hsiao, A. I., MacGregor, M. E., and Banting, J. D. 1979. The use of sodium hypochlorite in testing the seed viability of wild oats. Can. J. Plant Sci. 59:10471052.Google Scholar
8. Malone, C. R. 1967. A rapid method for enumeration of viable seeds in soil. Weeds 15:381382.Google Scholar
9. McCanny, S. J. and Cavers, P. B. 1988. The spread of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) in Ontario, Canada. II. Dispersal by combines. Weed Res. 28:6772.Google Scholar
10. Moore, R. P. 1973. Tetrazolium staining for assessing seed quality. Pages 347366 in Heydecker, W., ed. Seed Ecology. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
11. O'Toole, J. J. 1982. Pages 1122 in Seed banks of Panicum miliaceum L. in three crops. Univ. West. Ontario, London, M.S. Thesis.Google Scholar
12. Thompson, K. and Grime, J. P. 1979. Seasonal variation in the seed banks of herbaceous species in ten contrasting habitats. J. Ecol. 67:893921.Google Scholar
13. Warwick, S. I. 1987. Isozyme variation in proso millet. J. Hered. 78:210212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar