Weedy rice (Oryza spp.): what’s in a name?

Abstract

AbstractThere are two species of cultivated rice in the world—Oryza sativa L. from Asia and Oryza glaberrima Steud. from Africa. The former was domesticated from the wild progenitor Oryza rufipogon Griff. and the latter from the African wild rice species Oryza barthii A. Shiv. The first known center of rice cultivation in China generated the O. sativa subspecies japonica. The indica subspecies arose from the second center of domestication in the Ganges River plains of India. Variants of domesticated lines and the continuous hybridization between cultivated varieties and the wild progenitor(s) resulted in weedy rice types. Some weedy types resemble the wild ancestor, but the majority of weedy rices today bear close resemblance to cultivated rice. Weedy rice accompanies rice culture and has increased in occurrence with the global shift in rice establishment from transplanting to direct-seeded or dry-drill-seeded rice. Weedy rice (Oryza spp.) is the most difficult weed to control in rice, causing as much as 90% yield loss or abandonment of severely infested fields. The gene flow continuum between cultivar and weedy rice or wild relative, crop de-domestication, and regionalized adaptation have resulted in a myriad of weedy rice types. The complex lineage of weedy rice has resulted in confusion of weedy rice nomenclature. Two names are generally used for weedy rice—Oryza sativa L. and Oryza sativa f. spontanea. Genomic data show that O. sativa L. applies to weedy rice populations derived from cultivated O. sativa, whereas O. sativa f. spontanea applies only to weedy types that primarily descended from O. rufipogon. Neither of these names applies to African weedy rice, which is of African wild rice or O. glaberrima lineage. Therefore, unless the lineage of the weedy population in question is known, the proper name to use is the generalized name Oryza spp.