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Phytolith analysis for the identification of barnyard millet (Echinochloa sp.) and its implications

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Abstract

Echinochloa was an important prehistoric food crop of early agriculture in Asia. Macro-remains can be used to identify Echinochloa. However, when few macro-remains are available, phytolith analysis can be performed. In this study, we examined the phytolith morphology of the glumes, lemmas, and paleas from the inflorescence bracts of nine Echinochloa species from different regions of China and obtained diagnostic, morphological, and morphometric characteristics for Echinochloa. Phytoliths in Echinochloa are different from those in most known crops except those in Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum. We found the following two diagnostic features within an epidermal silica layer that can be used to distinguish Echinochloa sp. from S. italica and P. miliaceum: (1) the β-type undulated patterns with constricted top of the undulation amplitude and (2) the discriminant functions based on the morphometric data of the β-type undulated patterns, which suggested that 94.9 % of the cross-validated data were correctly classified into Echinochloa, S. italica, and P. miliaceum. Thus, we established the phytolith identification criteria for Echinochloa; this could have important implications in plant taxonomy, archaeobotany, and plant domestication.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Guoan Wang from China Agricultural University for providing some samples for this study. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41230104), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (Grant No. 2015CB953801), the “Strategic Priority Research Program: Climate Change, Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA05130602), and the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2013BAK08B02).

Author contributions

H.L. and Y.G. conceived the experiment. H.L., Y.G., C.W., K.H., and X.H. collected and prepared the samples. Y.G. and J.Z. performed the experiment. All authors contributed to data analysis. Y.G. and H.L. wrote the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yong Ge, Houyuan Lu, Jianping Zhang, Can Wang, Keyang He & Xiujia Huan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yong Ge, Can Wang, Keyang He & Xiujia Huan

  3. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Houyuan Lu & Jianping Zhang

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  1. Yong Ge
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Correspondence to Yong Ge or Houyuan Lu.

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Ge, Y., Lu, H., Zhang, J. et al. Phytolith analysis for the identification of barnyard millet (Echinochloa sp.) and its implications. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 10, 61–73 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0341-0

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