Another aggressive species aggravates weed menace
Rakesh Lohumi
Obnoxious weeds continue their march in the hills unabated even as scientists have identified one more alien species having the potential to spread aggressively like Lanatna camara, the number one invasive plant, which has already occupied large tracts of land across the state.
Commonly known as Siam Weed, Eupatorium adenophorum has been of late spreading rather quickly along the Shiwaliks to attract the attention of forest scientists, but the alarming pace at which it has been spreading became evident only after the Himalayan Forestry Research Institute (HFRI) conducted a pilot study.
“Under favourable conditions, the single seed of Eupatorium odoratum can quickly rise to infestation, which may spread further and become difficult to manage if it goes unnoticed,” explains Dr KS Kapoor, Group Coordinator Research, HFRI.
It has started forming impenetrable thickets at the forest interface and in forest openings, hill slopes, open areas such as pastures around villages and settlements along roadsides, fallow areas and disturbed forests.
Like many other weeds, Eupatorium was introduced in India as an ornamental plant; it emerged as a major invasive species in northeast and southern regions, particularly the Western Ghats. In recent years, it has been spreading alarmingly in the North-western Himalayas, particularly in the Shiwalik ranges.
The main reason for the rapid spread of Lantana is that it is poisonous and, thus, not consumed by animals.
The dominance of single species on the forest floor also increases the hazard of wild fires, which spread quickly due to thick undergrowth. According to a forest-wise reconnaissance, carried out during March 2011 across the state, the four problematic weeds have already usurped 3,60,000 hectare of land, including 185,201.35 hectare of forest area, in the state. Lantana alone accounted for the maximum 1,77,000 hectare and 80 per cent of the area affected was forest land. The other three species were
According to Dr Kapoor weed menace has become a nation-wide problem and the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is formulating an All-India Coordinated Research Project to develop appropriate technological interventions to deal with it.
Piecemeal efforts to eradicate Lantana in the past have not succeeded. However, former principal chief conservator of forests GS Goraya is hopeful that the latest Cut Root Stock (CRS) method, which involves cutting of the main tap root of a Lantana plant beneath the coppicing zone (transition zone between stem base and root stock), will yield the desired results. It has yielded encouraging results in the Nurpur area where the forest land had been rehabilitated after removing the weed. In all over 13,000 hectare of Lantana-infested areas has been rehabilitated, which is significant given the massive scale at which four major weeds have been spreading.
