Elymus repens (quackgrass)
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Top of pagePreferred Scientific Name
- Elymus repens (L.) Gould 1947
Preferred Common Name
- quackgrass
Other Scientific Names
- Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. (1812)
- Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski 1933
- Triticum repens L. (1753)
International Common Names
- English: couch grass; quack grass
- Spanish: grama de Europa
- French: chiendent rampant
- Portuguese: grama-francesa
Local Common Names
- Germany: (gemeine) Quecke
- Italy: agropiro comune; caprinella; gramigna; granaccio
- Japan: himekamojigusa; shibamugi
- Netherlands: kweek
- Sweden: kvickrot
EPPO code
- AGRRE (Elytrigia repens)
Taxonomic Tree
Top of page- Domain: Eukaryota
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Spermatophyta
- Subphylum: Angiospermae
- Class: Monocotyledonae
- Order: Cyperales
- Family: Poaceae
- Genus: Elymus
- Species: Elymus repens
Notes on Taxonomy and Nomenclature
Top of pageVariability
E. repens is a very variable perennial species. In Flora Europaea (1964-80), five subspecies are recognized. The most widespread, ssp. repens, is strongly rhizomatous and is the subspecies important as a weed on cultivated land. It is also a frequent plant on other disturbed ground and in waste places within its distribution areas. Chromosome number is 2n=28 or 42 (Bor, 1960).
The subdivision of E. repens may be questioned and needs more thorough investigation, for example by comparison of plants from different geographical areas. Attempts to subdivide ssp. repens on the basis of morphological differences are doubtful (cf. Håkansson, 1967). As cross-pollination is predominant, sexual reproduction results in genotypically different clones which sometimes show morphological differences, e.g. in the inflorescence, within narrow areas. These differences, however, may have only a slight ecological or agronomic significance.
Description
Top of pageE. repens ssp. repens is a rhizomatous perennial grass developing erect culms, which are more or less curved at the base. Their length is between 30 and 120 cm.
Leaf blades are soft and relatively flat, 3-10 mm wide, dull and mostly dark green, sometimes glaucous. On the lower leaves, sheaths are often strongly hairy, on upper leaves smooth or slightly soft-hairy. Growth-chamber experiments in Sweden show that the sheaths become hairier at low than at high temperatures (S. Håkansson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, unpublished data, 1995). Auricles occur at the junction of the sheath and blade.
The inflorescence is a dense to rather lax spike, like a wheat spike but more slender, mostly 5-10 cm long. Spikelets are compressed, 5-15 mm long, usually with four to six flowers. Glumes are 5-15 mm long, lanceolate and mostly awn-pointed, lemma 6-11 mm with an awn from less than 1 mm up to about 10 mm. Seeds are enclosed in the glumes, forming a spool-shaped unit, broadest below the middle. The caryopsis is usually 4-5 mm long.
Rhizomes are pale yellow or straw-coloured with internodes from 2-8 cm in length and about 3 (1.5-4) mm in diameter. Their nodes, with more or less differentiated buds, are originally covered with scaly sheaths, which decay rather rapidly. Their apices are enclosed by sheaths which form a scaly cover ending in a sharp tip. The rhizomes are mostly creeping between the soil surface and a depth of 5-10 cm, or up to 20 cm in loose soil. Rhizomes may reach lengths of more than 1 m under favourable growth conditions. Fibrous roots develop from their nodes.
Distribution
Top of pageDistribution Table
Top of pageThe distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.
Last updated: 12 May 2022Continent/Country/Region | Distribution | Last Reported | Origin | First Reported | Invasive | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Africa |
|||||||
Egypt | Present | ||||||
Nigeria | Present, Localized | ||||||
Réunion | Present | Introduced | 1982 | ||||
Antarctica |
|||||||
French Southern Territories | Present | Introduced | 1977 | Original location reported: Kerguelen Islands | |||
Asia |
|||||||
Afghanistan | Present, Localized | ||||||
Armenia | Present | ||||||
Bangladesh | Present, Localized | ||||||
Georgia | Present | ||||||
India | Present, Localized | ||||||
-Jammu and Kashmir | Present | ||||||
Iran | Present, Localized | ||||||
Israel | Present | ||||||
Japan | Present, Localized | ||||||
Kazakhstan | Present | ||||||
Mongolia | Present | ||||||
North Korea | Present | Introduced | 1897 | ||||
Pakistan | Present | Original citation: Cope, 1982 | |||||
South Korea | Present | Introduced | 1897 | ||||
Turkey | Present, Localized | ||||||
Europe |
|||||||
Austria | Present | ||||||
Belarus | Present | ||||||
Belgium | Present, Localized | ||||||
Bulgaria | Present, Localized | ||||||
Czechia | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Czechoslovakia | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Denmark | Present, Localized | ||||||
Finland | Present, Localized | ||||||
France | Present, Localized | ||||||
Germany | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Greece | Present, Localized | ||||||
Hungary | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Iceland | Present, Localized | ||||||
Ireland | Present, Localized | ||||||
Italy | Present, Localized | ||||||
Lithuania | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Netherlands | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Norway | Present, Localized | ||||||
Poland | Present, Localized | ||||||
Portugal | Present | ||||||
-Azores | Present | Introduced | 1838 | ||||
Romania | Present, Widespread | ||||||
Russia | Present, Localized | ||||||
-Siberia | Present | ||||||
Serbia | Present, Localized | ||||||
Serbia and Montenegro | Present, Localized | ||||||
Slovakia | Present | ||||||
Spain | Present, Localized | ||||||
Svalbard and Jan Mayen | Present | Introduced | 2008 | As: Elytrigia repens | |||
Sweden | Present, Localized | ||||||
Switzerland | Present | ||||||
Ukraine | Present, Localized | ||||||
United Kingdom | Present, Widespread | ||||||
North America |
|||||||
Canada | Present, Localized | Original citation: widespread in humid areas | |||||
-Alberta | Present, Widespread | ||||||
-Ontario | Present | ||||||
United States | Present, Widespread | ||||||
-Alaska | Present | ||||||
-Arizona | Present | ||||||
-Arkansas | Present | ||||||
-California | Present | ||||||
-Colorado | Present | ||||||
-Connecticut | Present | ||||||
-Delaware | Present | ||||||
-Hawaii | Present | ||||||
-Idaho | Present | ||||||
-Illinois | Present | ||||||
-Indiana | Present | ||||||
-Iowa | Present | ||||||
-Kansas | Present | ||||||
-Kentucky | Present | ||||||
-Maine | Present | ||||||
-Maryland | Present | ||||||
-Massachusetts | Present | ||||||
-Michigan | Present | ||||||
-Minnesota | Present | ||||||
-Missouri | Present | ||||||
-Montana | Present | ||||||
-Nebraska | Present | ||||||
-Nevada | Present | ||||||
-New Jersey | Present | ||||||
-New Mexico | Present | ||||||
-New York | Present | ||||||
-North Carolina | Present | ||||||
-North Dakota | Present | ||||||
-Ohio | Present | ||||||
-Oklahoma | Present | ||||||
-Oregon | Present | ||||||
-Pennsylvania | Present | ||||||
-Rhode Island | Present | ||||||
-South Dakota | Present | ||||||
-Tennessee | Present | ||||||
-Utah | Present | ||||||
-Vermont | Present | ||||||
-Virginia | Present | ||||||
-Washington | Present | ||||||
-West Virginia | Present | ||||||
-Wisconsin | Present | ||||||
-Wyoming | Present | ||||||
Oceania |
|||||||
Australia | Present, Localized | ||||||
-Tasmania | Present | Original citation: Dept of Agriculture Tasmania, 1977 | |||||
-Western Australia | Present | Original citation: Dept of Agriculture Western Australia, 1972 | |||||
New Zealand | Present, Localized | ||||||
Papua New Guinea | Present, Widespread | ||||||
South America |
|||||||
Argentina | Present, Localized | ||||||
Chile | Present | Introduced | 1854 | As: Elytrigia repens | |||
Ecuador | Present, Localized |
Habitat
Top of pageHost Plants and Other Plants Affected
Top of pageBiology and Ecology
Top of pageSeedlings normally begin to develop rhizomes when they have four to six foliar leaves. Until then, they are as sensitive to mechanical disturbance as seedlings of annual plants. After rhizomes have developed, the plants are comparable to those developed from rhizome buds (Håkansson, 1970; Williams, 1970).
According to experiments by Håkansson (1967, 1969b, 1974, 1995) studying E. repens, its undisturbed growth and susceptibility to mechanical and chemical disturbance can be described as follows. In undisturbed clones, new plants or plant units (i.e. aerial shoots and attached adventitious roots) mainly develop from the apices of rhizome branches, whereas apical dominance prevents axillary buds from being activated. On the other hand, axillary rhizome buds are activated to a greater extent by soil cultivation or other disturbances breaking or wounding the rhizome system. Such buds then greatly contribute to the development of new plants. In studying 'late-spring dormancy' as described by Johnson and Buchholz (1962), Håkansson (1967) interpreted this dormancy to be merely due to shortage of food reserves in the rhizomes, a shortage which at the same time results in minimum capacity for regeneration in late spring to early summer. This minimum appears when primary shoots have developed 3-4 leaves and results in minimum tolerance to mechanical disturbance. According to studies in the UK (e.g. Leakey et al., 1978), rhizome buds can show two types of dormancy, a cyclical innate dormancy associated with the early summer season, as well as that due to apical dominance.
When the primary shoots of the plants or plant units have developed a foliage large enough for photosynthesis to compensate and increasingly exceed the consumption in the below-ground system, secondary tillers and new rhizome branches begin to develop from buds near or below the soil surface. In unshaded plants, this usually happens when the primary shoots have three to four foliage leaves. At this stage, or during a slightly extended period, the plants have a minimum regenerative capacity and are therefore more susceptible to mechanical disturbance by soil cultivation than earlier or later. The systemic effect of foliar herbicides is greater after application somewhat later, when the downward stream of assimilate is stronger and the foliage catching applied herbicides is larger in relation to the below-ground plant parts (Håkansson, 1967, 1969b, 1974, 1995).
Many of the aerial shoots established during the earlier part of the growing season, particularly the primary shoots, develop a culm by stem elongation. In many cases, a great proportion of the culms are sterile, but are otherwise similar to the spike-bearing ones.
Natural enemies
Top of pageNatural enemy | Type | Life stages | Specificity | References | Biological control in | Biological control on |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blumeria graminis | Pathogen | |||||
Cochliobolus sativus | Pathogen | |||||
Drechslera biseptata | Pathogen | |||||
Puccinia acroptili | Pathogen | |||||
Pyrenophora bromi | Pathogen | |||||
Pyrenophora japonica | Pathogen | |||||
Sipha maydis | Predator | Plants|Inflorescence; Plants|Leaves | ||||
Subanguina picridis | Parasite |
Impact
Top of pageIn grassland and other crops grown for grazing, green forage, hay, etc., small amounts of E. repens may be harmless, if harvested in the younger stages when its shoots provide a qualitatively good feed (Teräsvouri, 1929). High proportions of E. repens are, however, always unfavourable in fodder crops stands because of a quantitatively low production.
Uses List
Top of pageAnimal feed, fodder, forage
- Fodder/animal feed
- Forage
Environmental
- Erosion control or dune stabilization
Human food and beverage
- Spices and culinary herbs
Medicinal, pharmaceutical
- Traditional/folklore
Prevention and Control
Top of pageDue to the variable regulations around (de)registration of pesticides, your national list of registered pesticides or relevant authority should be consulted to determine which products are legally allowed for use in your country when considering chemical control. Pesticides should always be used in a lawful manner, consistent with the product's label.
Cultural ControlCultural measures in the cropping system should always be considered. Measures improving the effect of competition in competitive crops such as small-grain cereals, oil-seed Brassica crops and many fodder crops are important. Using as small row spacings as is technically possible, and making all efforts to achieve an even distribution of the crop plants in the row, can reduce the plant growth of E. repens considerably, particularly in combination with a rapid and even emergence and establishment of the crop plants. To achieve rapid crop establishment, seedbed preparation and sowing depth adapted to soil type and climate are of the utmost importance (Håkansson, 1974, 1979, 1995). Systematic combination of techniques aimed at optimizing the competition from a potentially competitive crops, such as small grain cereals, may reduce the growth of E. repens by 50%.
Mechanical Control
Although considerable effects can be obtained by enhancing competition in certain crops, additional control is usually needed. When crops are harvested long before the end of the growing season, E. repens has its best period of rhizome production after harvest, in a period free of competition from the crop. Changing this period of production into reduction by mechanical or chemical control is a most effective measure in a control system for E. repens. When soil cultivation is carried out, the first operation (stubble cultivation) is preferably done immediately after harvest, with implements breaking the rhizomes as much as possible (Håkansson, 1968b; Boström and Fogelfors, 1999). When the growing period is long enough, operations are repeated at intervals. Ploughing is the last operation before winter or, on certain soils, it can be done in early spring if therew is enough time before the final seedbed preparation and sowing of the next crop. According to Håkansson (1974, 1982, 1995), combination of such tillage and competition in good stands of crops such as small-grain cereals will suppress E. repens and similar weeds by 90% or more.
Without effective tillage, E. repens, like other creeping perennial weeds, is hard to control sufficiently by any means except herbicides. This is illustrated in many experiments with reduced tillage in various forms (for example, Bachthaler, 1974; Cussans, 1976; Rydberg, 1992; Børresen and Njøs, 1994; Skuterud et al., 1996; Dzienia and Piskier, 1998).
Chemical Control
Where mechanical control is not desirable or not possible due to soil or climate, or for other reasons, different herbicides can be used for controlling grasses such as E. repens. Some of the more important ones are presented below.
A number of systemic foliar herbicides are effective on E. repens when the plants have sufficient actively growing aerial shoots in proportion to the attached rhizome system. The most important is glyphosate, a herbicide with low selectivity, used in a large number of countries with good effect in controlling E. repens. It is used in stubble fields after harvest, on fallow land, in orchards, on grassland in connection with ploughing (either before or following ploughing after sufficient time), in field margins and headlands, and in some countries, in ripe cereals e.g. by wiping or even spraying overall before harvest. Examples of other herbicides used for the control of E. repens are sethoxydime and cycloxydime, which are selective herbicides used in a number of dicotyledonous crops such as rape, turnip rape, beet, potatoes and peas. In recent years, other herbicides of this type, such as tepraloxydim (Kibler et al., 1999) have been used successfully in many of the crops mentioned. Foliar-applied herbicides of the sulfuro group may also be of interest for controlling E. repens, for example, sulfuron in potatoes (Kuzior et al., 1999), wheat (Rainbolt et al., 1999) and in fields of stubble (Rola et al., 2000). This and other herbicides of this group might attract an increasing interest in the control of E. repens in different cereals (e.g. Feucht et al., 1999). Various adjuvants are of interest for increasing the effect of sulfuron and other herbicides (Woznica et al., 1998). Among selective herbicides for soil application, EPTC has been used for several decades and is still used in some countries in dicotyledonous crops, e.g. in potatoes before planting. Propyzamide and terbacil are used in some countries, e.g. in orchards.
References
Top of pageBadowski M; Rola H, 1997. Occurrence and degree of hazard of grass weeds in crops in Poland. Progress in Plant Protection, 37:247-249.
Beddows AR, 1931. Seed setting and flowering in varioius grasses. Bull. Welsh Pl. Breed. Stn, Ser. H., 12:5-99.
Bor NL, 1960. The Grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan (Excluding Bambusae). Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
Department of Agriculture; Western Australia, 1972. Summer weed competition in apple orchards. Annual Report 1971, 87.
Ellenberg H, 1974. Zeigerwerte der Gefasspflanzen Mitteleuropas. Scripta Geobotanica 9. Gottingen: Goeltze.
EPPO, 2014. PQR database. Paris, France: European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. http://www.eppo.int/DATABASES/pqr/pqr.htm
Flora Europaea, 1964-80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fontes FC; Fernandes JAD; Carvalho-Fontes F; Dias-Fernandes JA, 1977. Herbicides and chemical weed control. The viticultural, technological and economic interest of the use of herbicides in general and in strongly sloping vineyards. Bulletin de l'O.I.V, 50: 551, 33-42.
Gunnarsson GH, 1984. Grass species as weeds in Iceland. Nordisk Jordbrugsforskning, 66(2):165
Hskansson S, 1967. Experiments with Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. I. Development and growth, and the response to burial at different developmental stages. Ann. agric. Coll. Sweden, 33: 823-873.
Hskansson S, 1969a. Experiments with Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. IV. Response to burial and defoliation repeated with different intervals. Ann. agric. Coll. Sweden, 35: 61-78.
Hskansson S, 1969b. Experiments with Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. VII. Temperature and light effects on development and growth. Ann. agric. Coll. Sweden, 35: 953-987.
Hskansson S, 1970. Experiments with Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. IX. Seedlings and their response to burial and to TCA in the soil. Ann agric. Coll. Sweden, 36: 361-379.
Hskansson S, 1974. Kvickrot och kvickrotsbekampning pa aker. Uppsala: Lantbrukshogskolan. Konsulentavdelningen/Publikationer.
Hskansson S, 1979. Grundlaggande vaxtodlingsfragor. Uppsala: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Husbandry, Report 72.
Hskansson S, 1995. Ogras och odling pa aker. Aktuellt fran lantbruksuniversitetet, 437/438. Uppsala.
Johnson BG; Buchholz KP, 1962. The natural dormancy of vegetative buds on the rhizomes of quackgrass. Weeds, 10:53-57.
Korsmo E, 1925. Ugras I natidens jordbruk. Oslo: Cappelens.
Korsmo E, 1954. Ugras i nstidens jordbruk. Oslo, Norway: A-S Norsk Landbruks Forlag.
Palmer JH; Sagar GR, 1963. Biological flora of the British Isles. Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. (Triticum repens L.; Elytrigia repens (L.) Nevski). Journal of Ecology, 51: 783-794.
Rainbolt CR; Sanders SM; Thill DC; Christianson K, 1999. Qackgrass control in wheat with sulfosulfuron. Proc. Western Soc. Weed Sci., Colorado Springs, Colorado, 52:59.
Rola H; Rola J; Badowski M; Haas HU, ed. , Hurle K, 2000. Regrowth of rhizomes of E. repens (L.) Gould after herbicide application. Proc. 20th German Conference on Weed Biology and Weed Control. Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany. Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz. Sonderh., 17:607-612.
Terasvuroi K, 1929. Die Quecke, Triticum repens L., als Kulturpflanze und Unkraut. Acta Agralia Fennica, 18. Helsinki.
Williams ED, 1968. Preliminary studies of germination and seedling behaviour in Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. and Agrostis gigantea Roth. In Proceedings of the 9th British Weed Control Conference, 119-124.
Williams ED, 1970. Studies on the growth of seedlings of Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. and Agrostis gigantea Roth. Weed Research, 10: 321-330.
Williams ED; Attwood PJ, 1971. Seed production of Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. in arable crops in England and Wales in 1969. Weed Research, 11: 22-30.
Yinon Y; Pnuel Y; Shiffer O; Rosenberg U, 1985. The control of couchgrass in the Negev by application of Roundup in the fallow year preceding winter cereals. Hassadeh, 65(10):1958-1961
Distribution References
Bor NL, 1960. The Grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan (Excluding Bambusae)., Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
CABI, Undated. Compendium record. Wallingford, UK: CABI
CABI, Undated a. CABI Compendium: Status as determined by CABI editor. Wallingford, UK: CABI
EPPO, 2014. EPPO Global database (available online). Paris, France: EPPO. https://gd.eppo.int/
Korsmo E, 1954. Ugras i nstidens jordbruk. Oslo, Norway: A-S Norsk Landbruks Forlag.
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