Weedy rice is one of the most dominant and competitive weed species found
throughout rice planting areas worldwide. In Malaysia, a combination of
agricultural practices such as direct seeding and shared use of machinery
has contributed to the rapid proliferation of weedy rice across paddy fields
in recent decades. Here, we report on the morphological characterization of
weedy rice populations and inferred origin(s) of different morphotypes
present in Peninsular Malaysia. Eight weedy rice morphotypes were
distinguished based on a combination of traits such as awn presence/absence
and hull color, from 193 accessions collected in 17 locations. Results
showed a high proportion of awnless accessions (strawhull-, intermediate
strawhull-, and brownhull-colored morphotypes, together composing 65% of
sampled accessions), with awned accessions represented by strawhull,
brownhull, and blackhull forms. Clustering and PCA analyses revealed four
major clusters: (1) O. rufipogon and the majority of awned,
blackhull, and brownhull—suggestive of a type of weedy rice originating from
wild Oryza populations; (2) elite indica
cultivar rice and the majority of strawhull weeds—supporting a previous
proposal that weedy rice from Malaysia mainly evolved from indirect
selection on cultivars for easy-shattering feral forms; (3) the majority of
brownhull; and (4) a mixture of other weedy morphotypes—potentially
reflecting multiple origins and subsequent admixture. The combination of key
morphological descriptors will be useful for advising farmers appropriately
in strategies for controlling the spread of weedy rice, including periodic
manual weeding to reduce buildup of the seed bank in the fields.