SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi / 2026 / Issue: 1

Morphological Plasticity and Genetic Diversity of Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. across Contrasting Disturbance Regimes Revealed by Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA Markers

Selvarajh Gunavathy(Lincoln University College)0000-0002-6041-6660
Tong Pei Sin(University Tunku Abdul Rahman)0000-0000-0000-0000
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-10-20
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The combined findings from chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers indicate limited genetic structuring despite significant morphological variation across habitats, providing valuable information into the adaptive strategies of E. indica under contrasting disturbance regimes and supporting the development of effective weed management strategies.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. is one of the most aggressive and widely distributed weed species in tropical agroecosystems.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Understanding the relationship between morphological variation and genetic diversity is essential for elucidating its adaptive strategies.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:The combined findings from chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers indicate limited genetic structuring despite significant morphological variation across habitats, providing valuable information into the adaptive strategies of E. indica under contrasting disturbance regimes and supporting the development of effective weed management strategies.
🔬Design:Research Article
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Eleusine indica · genetic diversity · psbA-trnH IGS marker

Abstract

Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. is one of the most aggressive and widely distributed weed species in tropical agroecosystems. It exhibits remarkable adaptability to diverse environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturbances. Its persistence across contrasting habitats is attributed to high reproductive capacity, strong competitive ability, and considerable phenotypic plasticity, making it a major challenge for sustainable weed management. Understanding the relationship between morphological variation and genetic diversity is essential for elucidating its adaptive strategies. This study examined the morphological variation and genetic diversity of E. indica across three contrasting habitats with different disturbance intensities using chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers. A total of 45 mature E. indica plants were collected for reproductive and vegetative morphological characterization, while 18 representative samples were selected for genetic diversity analyses. Reproductive traits including spike length, peduncle length, and seed length differed significantly among habitats (p < 0.05), indicating reproductive variation in response to environmental conditions. Genetic diversity analysis using the chloroplast psbA–trnH intergenic spacer revealed limited sequence variation, with only two haplotypes detected among the sampled populations. Similarly, inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker analysis showed no significant genetic differentiation among habitats (p ≥ 0.05), with molecular variation occurring predominantly within populations. The combined findings from chloroplast and nuclear DNA markers indicate limited genetic structuring despite significant morphological variation across habitats, providing valuable information into the adaptive strategies of E. indica under contrasting disturbance regimes and supporting the development of effective weed management strategies.

🔖

Cite This Article

Gunavathy, S., Sin, T. P. (2026). Morphological Plasticity and Genetic Diversity of Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. across Contrasting Disturbance Regimes Revealed by Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA Markers. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi, Issue: 1. https://doi.org/10.29133/yyutbd.1828778

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (41)

  1. Adoho, A. C. C., Zinsou, F. T., Olounlade, P. A., Azando, E. V. B., Hounzangbe-Adote, M. S., & Gbangboche, A. B. (2021). Review of the literature of Eleusine indica: Phytochemical, toxicity, pharmacological and zootechnical studies. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 10(3), 29–33.
  2. Anas, M., Liao, F., Verma, K. K., Sarwar, M. A., Mahmood, A., Chen, Z. L., Li, Q., Zeng, X. P., Liu, Y., & Li, Y. R. (2020). Fate of nitrogen in agriculture and environment: Agronomic, eco-physiological and molecular approaches to improve nitrogen use efficiency. Biological Research, 53(1), 1–20.
  3. Asaduzzaman, M., Wu, H., Koetz, E., Hopwood, M., & Shepherd, A. (2022). Phenology and population differentiation in reproductive plasticity in feathertop rhodes grass (Chloris virgata Sw.). Agronomy, 12(3), 736.
  4. Berger, J. D., Shrestha, D., & Ludwig, C. (2017). Reproductive strategies in Mediterranean legumes: Trade-offs between phenology, seed size and vigor within and between wild and domesticated Lupinus species collected along aridity gradients. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, 548.
  5. Bommarco, R., Lönn, M., Danzer, U., Pålsson, K. J., & Torstensson, P. (2010). Genetic and phenotypic differences between thistle populations in response to habitat and weed management practices. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 99(4), 797–807.
  6. Breeden, G. K. (2023). Goosegrass (Eleusine indica). Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee Extension. https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/w170.pdf
  7. Buczkowska, K., & Dabert, M. (2011). The development of species-specific SCAR markers for delimitation of Calypogeia species. Journal of Bryology, 33(4), 291–299.
  8. Bullied, W. J., Van Acker, R. C., & Bullock, P. R. (2012). Microsite characteristics influencing weed seedling recruitment and implications for recruitment modeling. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 92(4), 627–650.
  9. Buthelezi, L. G., Mavengahama, S., Sibiya, J., & Ntuli, N. R. (2023). Variation in shoot, peduncle and fruit growth of Lagenaria siceraria landraces. Plants, 12(3), 1–23.
  10. Chong, J. L., Wickneswari, R., Ismail, B. S., & Salmijah, S. (2008). Comparative growth studies of glyphosate-resistant and susceptible Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn (goosegrass) biotypes from the Malaysian Peninsular. Plant Protection Quarterly, 23(2), 99–103.
  11. Chong, J. L., Wickneswari, R., Ismail, B. S., & Salmijah, S. (2011). Genetic diversity of glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-susceptible Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn (Poaceae) populations from Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysian Applied Biology, 40(2), 27–36.
  12. Chuah, T. S., Salmijah, S., Teng, Y. T., & Ismail, B. S. (2004). Changes in seed bank size and dormancy characteristics of the glyphosate‐resistant biotype of goosegrass (Eleusine indica [L.] Gaertn.). Weed Biology and Management, 4(2), 114–121.
  13. Degtjareva, G. V., Logacheva, M. D., Samigullin, T. H., Terentieva, E. I., & Valiejo-Roman, C. M. (2012). Organization of chloroplast psbA-trnH intergenic spacer in dicotyledonous angiosperms of the family Umbelliferae. Biochemistry (Moscow), 77, 1056–1064.
  14. Dekker, J. (2011). Evolution, natural selection and weedy adaptation. In Evolutionary ecology of weeds (pp. 48–55).
  15. Drapikowska, M., Buczkowska, K., Celka, Z., Szkudlarz, P., & Jackowiak, B. (2020). Genetic variability of Anthoxanthum aristatum Boiss. (Poaceae) at the non-native range limit. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 67, 163–176.
  16. Du, X. H., Wang, H., Sun, J., Xiong, L., & Yu, J. (2019). Hybridization, characterization and transferability of SSRs in the genus Morchella. Fungal Biology, 123(7), 528–538.
  17. Dwiati, M., Dewi, T. A. N., & Susanto, A. H. (2023). Genetic diversity of cogongrass [Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch] in Java Island based on psbA-trnH IGS. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture for Rural Development (ICSARD 2022) (pp. 208–216). Atlantis Press.
  18. Fakhr, M. A., Mazrou, Y. S. A., Ellmouni, F. Y., Elsaied, A., Elhady, M., Elkelish, A., & Nour, I. H. (2022). Investigating the phenotypic plasticity of the invasive weed Trianthema portulacastrum L. Plants, 11(1), 77–96.
  19. Goh, W. L., Chandran, S., & Wong, K. M. (2010). Optimization of the ISSR-PCR system for the bamboos of economic importance. Acta Horticulturae, 875, 543–548.
  20. Guo, Z., Zhao, Y., Röder, M. S., Reif, J. C., Ganal, M. W., Chen, D., & Schnurbusch, T. (2018). Manipulation and prediction of spike morphology traits for the improvement of grain yield in wheat. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 1–10.
  21. Hamizan, Z. M. Z., Monica, S., Shean Yeaw, N., Zainab, N., Maili, S., & Fatimah, S. (2021). Eleusine indica for food and medicine. Journal of Agrobiotechnology, 12(2), 68–87.
  22. Hani, M., Lebazda, R., & Fenni, M. (2017). Variations of weeds seeds of species belonging to Poaceae on the basis of germination, production and morphological characteristics. Advances in Research, 10(3), 1–8.
  23. Hantsch, L., Bruelheide, H., & Erfmeier, A. (2013). High phenotypic variation of seed traits, germination characteristics and genetic diversity of an invasive annual weed. Seed Science Research, 23(1), 27–40.
  24. Ikhajiagbe, B., Chukwujama, C. A., & Ogwu, M. (2022). Intrinsic restoration of a ferruginous ultisol using goosegrass (Eleusine indica L. [Gaertn.]) obtained from different land use areas. Journal of Natural Resources and Development, 12, 1–18.
  25. International Seed Morphology Association. (2020). Method for seed size measurement (Version 1.0). ISMA Publication Guide.
  26. Kerr, R. A., Zhebentyayeva, T., Saski, C., & McCarty, L. B. (2019). Comprehensive phenotypic characterization and genetic distinction of distinct goosegrass (Eleusine indica L. Gaertn.) ecotypes. Journal of Plant Science and Phytopathology, 3(3), 95–100.
  27. Khalid, M. A., Ali, Z., Tahir, M. H. N., Ghaffar, A., & Ahmad, J. (2023). Genetic effects of GA-responsive dwarfing gene Rht13 on plant height, peduncle length, internodal length and grain yield of wheat under drought stress. Genes, 14(3), 699.
  28. Loddo, D., Imperatore, G., Milani, A., Panozzo, S., Farinati, S., Sattin, M., & Zanin, G. (2020). First report of glyphosate-resistant biotype of Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. in Europe. Agronomy, 10(11), 1692–1703.
  29. Ma, X., Ma, Y., Wu, H., Ren, X., Jiang, W., & Ma, Y. (2019). Emergence timing affects growth and reproduction of goosegrass (Eleusine indica). Weed Technology, 33(6), 833–839.
  30. Pang, X., Liu, C., Shi, L., Liu, R., Liang, D., Li, H., Cherny, S. S., & Chen, S. (2012). Utility of the trnH–psbA intergenic spacer region and its combinations as plant DNA barcodes: A meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 7(11), e48833.
  31. Pant, C., & Sah, S. K. (2020). Managing plant population and competition in field crops. Acta Scientifica Malaysia (ASM), 4(2), 33–36.
  32. Patel, J., Hall, N. D., Harris, J. R., & McElroy, J. S. (2023). Morphological and metabolic differences between turfgrass and row‐crop biotypes of goosegrass (Eleusine indica). Crop Science, 63, 1602–1612.
  33. Sarıtaş, A. G., & Gürbüz, R. (2024). Effects of hot water obtained by solar energy on the weeds Convolvulus arvensis L., Setaria viridis (L.) P. Beauv. and Amaranthus retroflexus L. Yuzuncu Yıl University Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 34(2), 346–353.
  34. Sarwat, M. (2012). ISSR: A reliable and cost-effective technique for detection of DNA polymorphism. In Plant DNA fingerprinting and barcoding: Methods and protocols (pp. 103–121). Humana Press.
  35. Selvarajh, G., Md Zain, N., & Seng, C. T. (2017). Effect of N fertilizer on the emergence and seedling growth of Eleusine indica in aerobic rice systems. Plant Omics, 10(5), 277–282.
  36. Selvarajh, G., Zain, N. M., Seng, C. T., & Aminudin, A. (2018). Herbicidal activity of pre and post emergent herbicide on control Eleusine indica in aerobic rice system. Pakistan Journal of Botany, 50(2), 511–515.
  37. Sober, V., & Ramula, S. (2013). Seed number and environmental conditions do not explain seed size variability for the invasive herb Lupinus polyphyllus. Plant Ecology, 214(6), 883–892.
  38. Tang, L., Zhou, Q. S., Gao, Y., & Li, P. (2022). Biomass allocation in response to salinity and competition in native and invasive species. Ecosphere, 13(1), e3900.
  39. van Steenderen, C. (2022). BinMat: A molecular genetics tool for processing binary data obtained from fragment analysis in R. Biodiversity Data Journal, 10, 77875–77889.
  40. Vauzia, V., Triana, B., Yeza, D. P., & Alti, R. P. (2023). Morphological characteristics and chlorophyll content of dominant weed leaves after peatland fires in oil palm plantation areas. Yuzuncu Yıl University Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 33(3), 389–396.
  41. Venkatesan, J., Ramu, V., Sethuraman, T., Sivagnanam, C., & Doss, G. (2021). Molecular marker for characterization of traditional and hybrid derivatives of Eleusine coracana (L.) using ISSR marker. Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 19, 1–12.