Variability of Couch (Elytrigia Repens (L.) Desv.) in Grasslands and Arable Fields in Two Localities in the Netherlands

Abstract

Shoots of couch tElytrigia repens (L.) Desv.) were collected from several grasslands and arable fields from a sand-and a clay area in The Netherlands and grown to adult plants on one experimental field. After three months these plants showed considerable variability which partly appeared to be related to the land use and locality of the sampled fields. However, land use and locality never accounted for more than 10% of the total variation of the observed plant characteristics. This variability could not be attributed to characteristics of the planted shoots and therefore seemed to be genetically determined and consequently the result of selection of couch types by the environment. The ways in which the land use (grassland versus arable land) might have caused the selection of the couch types are discussed.

A Review of Non-Chemical Management of Couch Grass (Elymus repens)

“…Many pot and field studies aimed at elucidating morphological variability in E. repens using clone/population collections indicate huge intraspecific variability in growth habit, plant color, awn length [2,[47][48][49], leaf pubescence, flag leaf width, plant height, and rhizome length [50][51][52][53].…”

“…Apart from morphological differences, differences in growth and development and more generally physiological differences have also been reported. Biomass production (rhizomes and aerial sprouts) can differ substantially between E. repens clones [47][48][49][53][54][55] or seedlings [48], as can the ratio of aboveground shoot weight to rhizome weight or inter-shoot dry weight partitioning [48], the volume per cm rhizome [51], and the production of seeds [49,56], spikes [48,51,53], and rhizome buds [53]. Varying ability of clones to utilize nitrogen is an important factor behind differences in biomass production [57].…”

Theil's Inequality Index Applied to Quantify Population Variation of Plants With Regard to Dry Matter Allocation

“…ASTON & BRADSHAW (1966) showed genetic differences in stolon length of Agrostis stolonifera, depending on the degree of salt stress. In Elytrigia repens similar phenomena were observed in plants from arable fields and grasslands (NEUTEBOOM 1980). MARSDEN-JONES & TURRILL (1957) and BA-KER & DALBY (1980) showed genetically fixed morphological differences between populations of Silene cucubalus and Silene maritima, which appeared to be related to solar radiation, temperature, nutrition and water balance as also suggested for populations with adaptations to a surplus of heavy metals by BROKER (1963).…”

Quackgrass (Agropyron repens) Biotype Response to Sethoxydim and Haloxyfop

“…Quackgrass is a highly variable species due in part to its self-sterility and very low frequency of inbreeding. The high degree of heterozygosity present within this species has resulted in the description of a large number of varieties, forms, and biotypes of quackgrass (2,8,9,11,16). In Minne sota, Westra and Wyse (15) selected and evaluated the de velopment of 10 phenotypically different quackgrass types.…”