Studies on the Characteristics of Germination and Emergence of Tall Panicum(Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.)

This experiment was conducted to clarify the characteristics of germination and emergence of Panicum dichotomiflorum which is a noxious weed species in direct-seeded rice field. P. dichotomiflorum was planted with several treatments such as different depths of irrigation to verifiy the ecological habits of seedling emergence and growth. In order to know the germination characteristics, Panicum dichotomiflorum seeds, pretreated with low-temperature() stratification for breaking the dormancy, were germinated under different temperature regimes and water potentials. Germination rates of P. dichotomiflorum was increased from 0% of dormant seed to 1%, 35% and 44% by stratification for 21, 28 and 42 days, respectively. Two dominant weed species in directseeded rice fields, Echinochloa crus-galli and Panicum dichotomitlorum, showed different germination habit under different temperature regimes. Echinochloa crus-galli showed more higher germination rate than Panicum dichotomiflorum at relatively low temperature regime(20/). Both species germinated faster at 30/ than at 20/. When the water potential was lowered, germination of Panicum dichotomiflorum was reduced more drastically than Echinochloa crus-galli. The critical water potential for germination of P. dichotomiflorum was -0.7MPa but Echinochloa crus-galli was affected slightly by the same water potential. The results showed that Echinochloa crus-galli can germinate under more wide range of soil water potential than Panicum dichotomiflorum. Emergence of P. dichotomiflorum was highly affected by irrigation depth and the level of water table. When the depth of irrigation water was increased, emergence of P. dichotomiflorum was dragged and emergence rate showed significant difference under the irrigation depth deeper than 6cm. The maximum depth of irrigation water for survival of Panicum dichotomiflorum seedling was 9cm.