The Status of Partttenium
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Review Paper THE STATUSOF PARTTTENIUMHYSTEROPHOR U.' AND ITS POTENTIALMANAGEMENT P.C. Bhowmik, D. Srrkar and N.T. Yadrraju* Deoafirnen! ofPlant. Soil and Ins€ct Scienc€s University ofMassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003-7245,USA 'Indian Councjl ofAgricultural Research,N€w Delbi, India ABSTRACT P.rlheniumhysterophotus L. (RaEwccdpadhenium) is an ag8rossiveherbaccolswccd oftropical and subtropicalhabitats. Tl'is speciesis nati\'cto Gulf of Mexicoa d cetrtfalSouth Arnerica and has b€comewidesprcad in Nonh America,South America, the Caribbean and many parts ofAftica, Asia andAustralia. Ragweed panhcnium is crrrrentlyidentified as an invasivespecies in severalcountri€s, includinslndia andNelal. Parthenium is primariLyfound in th€wastelands, vacant ar€as, community parks,roadsides and even invades agricultural ficlds. lt is a majorwccd in cfopand pastlfc arcas in lndiaand Alstralia. Tlis weedspecies threatens huhan and uDimal health by causinglllergic contact dermatitjs,hay fever, and respiratoryproblems in seflsitivefiumans and lnimals. Padhonium adverselyAffectscrop production, animalhusbandry andfilnun health.This species is knownto have severalallclochcmicals that may have ecolosicsl implications on spcciesdiaersity in varioushabitats. Limii€dconlrolpractices are availablc for managingthh speciesin variousenvironments. Although it is a problemw€ed in AuskElia,India, Nepal and otherAsian subcontin€nts,it may becom€more proninentjn otherpansofihc worldin thenear future, Clobal strategies in relationto identification, carlydctcciion, spread and management must bo dcvcloped lor its tutureinvasion. Key wordsrllnvasive speci€s, biological control, Panhonium hystcrophorus, oonEfcss srass, caffot sllss, hlsc raswced,knnike ghas, ragwe€d panhenium INTRODUCTION in the nearlulure (Evans1997). This specieswas noi lisled in world's worsl wccd ufitil 1977. Ragweed parthenium (Patheniun However,within the lasl lwo dccadcsit has hysterophontsL.), a n]'emberofAst€raceae lamily, b€comeon€ of the sevennrosl dreadcd wccds of is a prolinc and aggressivehcrbaceous we€d of theworid. Factors such as highfecundity, efficient tropicaland subtropical€nvironments. The word seed dispersal,absencc of natural pr€dators, poflheniunua, detivedfiom the Latinpa henie allelopathicimpacts lo lhe otherplants,presence ol suggesiingrnedicinal ses (Bailey 1960) and anti-feedantsand wide adaptability1o varying sorl hysterophoruswas detived from the Greekr./sre,'a and agro-climaticconditions have enabledthis (womb) and (b€arjng),referring to the ?ralos plantto invadea va ely of naturalcnvironmenis. prolific secd habit of ihe planr (Parsonsand The weed is known to adversely affecl cmp Cuthbertson1992). The wecd is also comnonly production,animal husbandry, human h€alth and knownas congressweed, star weed, canot w€ed, biodiversity. Very lew other weeds have such a white top, whitehead, fev€dew, biiter weed, wjde ranging and potentially l€ihal impact on broom-bush,escobar ana€a, false rasweedn humanaffairs. The presentreview is an atlemptto different pans of lhe world. Altbough it is a givean overallidea abour the distribution, biology, problemdric$ced ir ALstraliiand In lrdiar managementand future stategy of parthenium subcontinent,but due to its rapid spreadingii may becomemore prominenl in other pans of the world ECOPRINT VOL 14, 2007 Origin and distribution Parthenium wa.sintoduced in Nepal via India in early 1980's and has sprcad rapidly alone Partheniumweed is native to Gulf of Mexico roadsides, fallow lands and agricultural Iands and central South America and has become (Tiwai et al. 2005). The i roduction of widespreadin North America, Souh America,the Parheniun hynercphont to easlemEthiopia is Caribbean and many pafls of A&ica, Asia and believedto haveoccuned along with army vehicl€s Aushalia (Bhowmik and Sarkar2005, Navi€ e/ d/. during the Ethiopian-Sornalianwar of 1976-77, 1996).In U.S.A.,it spreadsfrom Fioridato Texas, where it has now consideredas a one of the nosl nonh of Massachusens.Michig:Ln. lllinois, toublesome weeds for grazing and crop land Louisiana,Missouri and Kansas(cleason and (Tanadoand Milberg 2000).Other than tbose i( CrcnqLisll9o3j. h has beenalso reponedfiom was also reported ftom Ismel (Joel and Liston Baltimore.Ne$ PortNews and Virginia.lt is a 1986)and Taiwan (Peng ar al 1988). major crop and pastureweed in India and Australia in particular, where it causesseveral detrimental effects.Parthenium was introducedin Africa, Asia The weedparlhenium causes se ous problem and Oceania in cereal and seed shipments $ass in every sphereof humanlife by scveraiways. The from U,S,A. dudng the 1950s.Two biotpes ol weed is consideredas noxiousweed du€ to its Paflheniun hystercphorurhave esrabhshedin prolific seed produclion.fasr spreadin8abilly. Austalia as a resuhof two differentintroductions potentialallelopatbic effects on otherplani, strong from U.S.A. The first introductionoccuned in compelirivenesswilh crops, hrgher phenor)?ic south-east and the secondin Central Que€nsland plasticityand healthhazard to humansas well as (Navieet d/.1996).In Australia,it has Queensland animals,It is a noxiousweed under non cropped becomewidespread in grazingland from central situa$ons,bur it is becominga curscby ovenaling to northemNew SouthWales (Adkins Queeffiland socialforestry, local pastures and 6ny open spaces et al, 1996),ln lndi,a,il f\rst appearedaccidenlally includingresidential areas (Singh et al. 2004).Ir in the lndian BotanicalCarden. Calcu a during ftrcarenshuman and animal health by causing l810-1814(Sharma and Pandey1984). Howev€r, allergiccontact d€rmatitis, rhinitis, hay fever,and ir was first observedin Puneand Maharashrmin respiratoryproblems in sensitivehumans and the mid 1950s(Rao 1956), and now consideredas animals. The initial s],rnptoms in human were one of ihe mosr fearednoxious weed spccies, describedas iiching,redness, swelling and blist€rs Ragw€€dparihenium was report€d to infest more on th€€yelids, face and neck, which then spread to lhar two millionha jn lndiain l99l and during the elbows and knees.ln ihe later stag€sthe skjn lbe last l0 years,it has spreadalamingly to the thickensand darkens(Evans 1997). The reports every parts ol the Indian lenitory except the frorn the different parts of the world indicat€dthat higher altitude (>4500 m), invadins va-star€as of the weed has larger impacl on humanwelfare than waste and cultivated lands (Aneja et al. t991, odginally suppos€d.An intensive fesearcb from Annapumaand Singh 2003, Kohli andRani 1994). Australia rcv€aled that i0% to 20% humm Becauseof th€ iransportationsystem, other than its populauondeveloped .evere allerCenicreaclion naturdl dispersalmechanism it now infests up to after they exposedto ihe weed for I to 10 yeals mid Himayalayasand even in the dry parts of the period (McF:dy€n 1995)-The weed may cause northwestIndia. In Nepal, it was Iirst reponed in toxiciiy; sometimeseven deathwhen consumedby 1982 by Hara et al. (1982r. It is suspectedthat animals.The weedreduces the caryiDg capacityof 2 ECOPRTNT VOL 14, 2007 the gazing land significantly alld adverselyafects Habit*t animnl health,milk 3nd meet quality, marketingof Ragweed parthenium can glow over a wide pasture seed and gain. The taste of the milk range of temperatlre and moisture conditions.A becomesbiner due ro lhe preseDceof paftenin. numberof strategi€ssuch as fast growth rate, quick which is hepatoxic (Kohli and Rani 199a). In regenerative and reproductive potential, greater Australia the weed mainly occun in Queensland, stess adaptability, genetic plasticity and lack of ulfesriog170.000 km'zofglaTiog land and causing natural enemiesfavor th€ir invasivenessin alien $16.5 millioo/year loss to the pasture industry. envircnment(Batish et al- 2004). This weed car After consideringthe expenditureon rcsearchinto rely on phenotpically varying plant traits to paihenium control particularly in biocortol it exploit the available "invasion windows" increased up to $350,000 during 1990-91 (Annapuma and Singh 2003). Ragweed (Chippendaleand Pane$a 1994). partheniumis primaily found in the wastelands, vacanlareas! comhunity parks, roadsidesand even lnitially,the weed confined to roadside,milway inv4desagricultural fields. Report from Australia track, wasteland and nAn-croppedareas, but it showedthat it grows best on alkaline, clay loam to started colonizing cropping field very rapidly. In h€ary black clay soils bui ioleratesa wide variety India it was repoited that mgweedparthenium has of soil irpe. On the otherhand, different opinron moved from road side to adjoining fields of found from other reports, where highe! clay sugarcane!ric€ and veg€tablescrops (Singh et d/. content (>3%) reduced the germination of 2004).The presenceof partheniumin cultivated parthenium seeds and the gro$4h of the plant land can alDtostdouble the cultiv4tioncosts and (Annapumaand Singh 2003), restrictsthe saleand movementof contaminated produc€.The weed can reduceyield by 40% rn The aridconditions may reduce its pefomance agricultrfal crops and up to 90% in forage and invasiv€ness by reducing both net production ifl Indian gr6ssland(Klosla and Sobti photosynth$isand water economyand thusrestrict 198l, Mahadevappaet al. 2001), The research this speciesto invade arid areasof lndia and conductedal Bthiopiashowed that in uncontrolled elsewhere(Pandey et ar, 2003).Parthenium weed plot parlheniumreduces sorghum g{ain yield up to ir b€stsuited with an annualrainfall greater than 40yolo 90Vo.The overallimpact ol this weedto 500 rnm.The distributionmay be limiiedby