Weed Herbarium

Bathua

Common Name: Lamb's Quarters
Scientific Name: Chenopodium album L.
Family Name: Chenopodiaceae
Type: Broad leaf

Identification Notes

EPPO Code

CHEAL

Life Cycle

Annual

Morphology

Stem – erect, much branched, glabrous, grooved. Leaves – simple, entire, rhombic, ovate to lanceolate, extremely variable, white green below and dark green above. Inflorescence – spikes, clusters in compact. Fruit - a utricle Seed – black, shiny.

Growing season

January - December [Rabi & Kharif]

Germination period

November to March

Flowering period

December to May

Propagation

By Seed

Habitat

Found in the fields of almost all rabi crops. Also found in aus rice, mixed aus-broadcast aman rice and jute. Even it is found in the levee of crop fields, and irrigation channel.

Weed potential

It is one of the more robust and competitive weeds, capable of producing crop losses of up to 13% in corn, 25% in soybeans, and 48% in sugar beets at an average plant distribution.

Control measure

Cultural, Biological (Ascochyta caulina) and Chemical

Recommended herbicide

Distribution

Widely distributed throughout Mongolia with occasionally high populations in frequently cultivated cereals and vegetables

Medicinal properties

The plant has been traditionally used as a bloodpurifier, diuretic, sedative, hepatoprotective, antiscorbutic laxative and as an anthelmentic against round and hookworms. Pharmacological studies have revealed that the plant possesses anthelmentic, sperm immobilizing and contraceptive properties (Poonia and Upadhayay 2015)

References

[1] Poonia, A., Upadhayay, A. Chenopodium album Linn: review of nutritive value and biological properties. J Food Sci Technol 52, 3977–3985 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1553-x

Department of Agronomy

Bangladesh Agricultural University