Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 12.1
(continued)
Country
Competitive beneficial plants
Digitaria eriantha
Steud. (native grass)
Pakistan
Poaceae
Imperata cylindrica
(L.) Beauv. (native grass)
Desmostachya bipinnata
(L.) Stapf. (native grass)
Dichanthium annulatum
(Forssk.) Stapf. (native grass)
Cenchrus pennisetiformis
Hochst. & Steud. (native grass)
Sorghum halepense
(L.) Pers. (native grass)
often discouraged, even if there is adequate fuel load. Subsequent field experiments
confirmed that fire did not affect the size of parthenium seed banks, nor does smoke
from such fires stimulate parthenium seed germination (Vogler et al. 2002). Fire,
however, resulted in an increase in parthenium densities, supporting earlier field
observations, but the parthenium populations declined after subsequent fires.
12.4.5 Cultural Practices
Cultural practices are often used to minimise parthenium infestations in crops, but
their role in other habitats such as forests, wasteland and roadside infestations is
yet to be implemented. Agronomic practices, such as manipulation of crop varie-
ties, sowing density and planting date, or the use of cover crops (e.g. cowpea) are
widely used to outcompete parthenium in sorghum crops in Ethiopia (Tomado
et al. 2002a). In India also, crop rotation incorporating marigold (
Tagetus erecta
Linn.) between regular crops has been suggested to reduce parthenium infestations
(e.g. Kauraw et al. 1997). In Australia, ploughing and mulching green parthenium
before planting winter crops (e.g. wheat) has been suggested to improve soil mois-
ture retention. However, no scientific studies have been made so far to validate
these claims.
12.4.6 Mycoherbicides
Mycoherbicides are fungal-based bioherbicides, and unlike herbicides, will have no
or limited non-target damage. Information is widely available on the mycoflora
(e.g.
Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia
,
Phoma herbarum
Westend,
Sclerotium
rolfsii
Sacc.,
Fusarium pallidoroseum
Sacc.) associated with parthenium in India
(e.g. Bagyanarayana and Manoharachary 1997; Deshpande et al. 1997; Gayathri and
Pandey 1997; Kauraw et al. 1997b; Singh 1997; Manickam et al. 1997a, b;
Jeyalakshmi et al. 2005; Kumar and Evans 2005; Vikrant et al. 2007), South Africa
