Parthenium Invasion in Bangladesh: A Cancerous Threat to The Country

Prof. Dr. S. M. Rezaul KarimFaculty of Agro Industry & Natural

ResourcesUniversity Malaysia Kelantan

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Newly Invaded Parthenium

• “Worst weed” of last century in India• Cause damages to crops, human health,

livestock and the environment• Very noxious and invasive weed• Already introduced in Bangladesh

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Single young plant

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Morphological viewsParthenium seedling Matured plant

Flowers of Parthenium Growing in roadside

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Rosette of Parthenium weed

Parthenium above man height

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Special characters

• High germination ability• Large seed production capacities • High survival rate• Extreme adaptability in diff. habitats• Easy dispersal of seeds• High allelopathic impacts• Can complete life cycles with in 4 weeks

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Why so dangerous?

• Plant contain toxin, sesquiterpene lactoneswhich causes allergy

• Pollens when breath in to human causes respiratory problems

• Produces skin rushes when contact with body

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Bad impacts on crops

CropCrop ImpactsImpacts

Rice & othersRice & others Yield loss up to 40% (India)Yield loss up to 40% (India)

MaizeMaize Grain filling reduced 50% due to Grain filling reduced 50% due to pollens on floral partspollens on floral parts

Pulses & Pulses & OilseedsOilseeds

Rice, Soybean, Chickpea, Mustard & Rice, Soybean, Chickpea, Mustard & Linseed are killed due to weed Linseed are killed due to weed allelopathyallelopathy

VegetablesVegetables Seed germination reduced in Seed germination reduced in Tomato, Brinjal & ChilliTomato, Brinjal & Chilli

Forage cropForage crop Pasture production reduced 90%Pasture production reduced 90%

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CROPS - Barley

Parthenium in Maize

Parthenium in Barley

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Bad effects on livestock

i)i) Contact causes inflamed udder, fever and rushes Contact causes inflamed udder, fever and rushes in cowsin cows

ii)ii) Buffalo & bullcalves suffer from toxicity, Buffalo & bullcalves suffer from toxicity, ulceration in mouth & digestive tracts ulceration in mouth & digestive tracts

iii)iii) Produce taints in muttonProduce taints in mutton

iv)iv) Destroys quality of dairy milkDestroys quality of dairy milk

v)v) Loss in beef production as AU$ 16.5 million per Loss in beef production as AU$ 16.5 million per year in Australiayear in Australia

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Allergic effects on goat mouth

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Bad effects on human

i)i) Contact of weed causes asthma, bronchitis, Contact of weed causes asthma, bronchitis, dermatitis and hay feverdermatitis and hay fever

ii)ii) Contact with skin causes eczimaContact with skin causes eczima

iii)iii) Pollen causes swelling and itching of mouth & Pollen causes swelling and itching of mouth & nose, constant cough etc.nose, constant cough etc.

iv)iv) Pollens cause allergic rhinitisPollens cause allergic rhinitis

v)v) Roots cause excessive water loss from bodyRoots cause excessive water loss from body

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Health problems due to parthenium

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Skin rush on arm

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Bangladesh

Distribution of the weed in the globe

Actual distribution Probable distribution

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Infestation in Jessore

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Damaging Natural Ecosystem

19Infestation in Faridpur

20Infestation in Faridpur

21Infestation in Bhaluka, Mymensingh

22Infestation in Patuakhali

23Map of Bangladesh showing districts with Parthenium infestation

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Research at BAU, Mymensingh

• Allelopathic effects of parthenium extracts on seed germination and seedling growth of field crops

• Allelopathic effects of parthenium debris on seed emergence of field crops

• N exploitation by Parthenium in comparison to rice

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Field cropsGermination

reduction (%)

Root length

reduction (%)

Shoot length

reduction (%)

Dry matter reduction

(%)

Average per cent

inhibition (%)

Rice 59.16 42.53 48.38 39.22 47.32

Wheat 34.92 14.83 20.05 35.37 26.29

Chickpea 36.67 17.85 55.19 33.11 35.71

Mustard 35.25 44.46 4.20 6.13 22.51

Experiment 1API due to parthenium weed on four field

crops

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Root 5% Stem 5% Leaf 5%

Control

Fig. 1 Seed germination and seedling growth of Rice

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Experiment 2Allelopathic effect of Parthenium

debris

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Effects on rice

Effect on Mungbean (at 30 DAS)

Effect on Soybean (at 30 DAS)

Experiment 3Exploitation of N by rice and Parthenium

N(kg /ha)

Initial soil

nitrogen( %)

Post harvest soil N

(Parthenium only)(%)

% Loss due to

Parthenium

Post harvest soil N

(Rice only) (%)

% Lossdue to

rice

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0.222

0.181a 18.47 0.205 a 7.66

40 0.177ab 20.27 0.203 ab 8.56

20 0.174abc 21.62 0.194 c 12.61

0 0.166cd 25.23 0.189 cd 14.86

Effect of Parthenium on rice at 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg N/ha (W+P means rice grown with Parthenium)

33Jugantor, 7 Jan, 2010

34Bangladesh Samoym, 8 Jan, 2010

35Seminar at BAU, Mymensingh

Seminar on Parthenium at BARC, Dhaka

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Beware of Parthenium

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Parthenium awareness

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Parthenium awareness

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Conclusions

• Community awareness through different media

• Field surveys and phyto-sociological surveys to be started

• Immediate research on biology and ecology to be started

• Govt. should impose strict quarantine for importing goods from parthenium infested countries like India

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Conclusions (Contd.)

• Effects of herbicides to control the weed• Screening of bio-control agents• Identifying competitive grasses• Parthenium Eradication committee should be

formed with the experts• Exploring beneficial uses especially for

making bio-herbicides and medicines