Weed
Echinochloa colona is considered a noxious weed in rice fields. Its heavy tillering and profuse root production outcompete most rice cultivars for light and nutrients. Moreover water soluble extracts have some allelopathic effect on rice coleoptiles and radicles (Galinato et al., 1999). Mexican sunflower was reported to control jungle rice in rice fields (Abeysekara et al., 1993).
Host of diseases
It is a host of rice viral diseases such as tungro and rice yellow dwarf (Catindig et al., 2011).