Alcohol dehydrogenase zymogram, its inheritance and anaerobic germinability of seeds of Echinochloa weeds

Seed polymorphism of Echinochloa weeds in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which has a critical function for the paddy weeds to germinate under flooding, was studied in the 196 individual accessions of the paddy and upland weeds collected in natural populations. The ADH zymograms detected in seeds were highly polymorphic and classified into five types; A3, A1A2A3, A1A3A5, A3A4A5 and A1A2A3A4A5. The majority of each species and varieties had a specific zymogram; E. oryzicoloa, A1A2A3; E. crus-gall var. formosensis, A1A2A3A4A5; E. crus-gell var. praticoloa. A3. E. crus-galli var. crus-galli having a widespread habitat had somewhat varied zymograms. The F1 seeds obtained from reciprocal crosses between E. crus-galli var. formosensis (A1A2A3A4A5, a paddy weed) and var. praticola (A3, an upland weed) had A1A2A3A4A5, and the observed segregation ratios of the F2 seeds derived by selfing F1 plants fitted to the two gene segregation mode of 9:3:3:1 for A1A2A3A4A5:A1A2A3:A3A4A5:A3. No distinct relationship was found between anaerobic seed germinability and ADH zymograrns of Echinochloa weeds collected in the natural populations. None of the accessions with A3, however, showed anaerobic germinability whereas the others with either A1A2A3 or A1A2A3A4A5 did in E. crus-galli var. praticola.