Biological Control of Weeds Using Insects and Fishes

Biological control of weeds in
India: current status and
prospects
Sushil Kumar
ICAR-Directorate of Weed
Research, Jabalpur, Madhya
Pradesh
•Alien species are recognized as the second largest
threat to biological diversity, the first being habitat
destruction
•Exotic pests cause unprecedented damage in the
absence of their natural antagonists.
•Economic impact of invasive pests is tremendous
•Exotic weeds interfere with cultivation of crops, loss
of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, loss of
grazing and livestock production, poisoning of
humans and livestock, choking of navigational and
irrigation canals and reduction of available water
bodies
Problems of alien invasive weeds
• Alien invasive weeds present a major
current and future problem in India.
• Several weeds have been introduced in
India either by accidentally or deliberately.
• There are about 15 major alien invasive
weed species in India which may be
considered the weeds
of national
significance.
Estimated cost to manage an alien weed Parthenium–
a case study
•In general, about 35 million hectare land has been estimated to
be infested with Parthenium currently.
•For the management of Parthenium, two hand weeding or two
chemical sprays are essentially required to get complete relief.
•It was estimated that 18200 crores will be required per year to
mitigate the problem by manual labour and Rs 11900 crores are
required to manage the weed by Chemicals.
•Therefore, since 1955, it would have cost 206716 crores to
manage the Parthenium in India by manual labour and Rs
150948 crores by chemicals.
•The losses caused by this weed may be much higher if we take
into consideration the cost involved in restoration of biodiversity
and aesthetic value already lost due to Parthenium
World's serious or principal weeds, whose introduction to
India must be prevented
Country
No. of Weed Species
Australia, New
195
Zealand
African countries
181
SE Asia, Far East
150
Middle East
118
South America
102
Europe
90
Central America
86
North America
33
Former Soviet Union
20
Source: A geographical atlas of world weeds, Holm et al. (1979) John Wiley & Sons.
Total
975
Biological control, i.e.
introduction, augmentation and
conservation of exotic natural
enemies, has been accepted as an
effective, environmentally nondegrading, technically appropriate,
economically viable and socially
acceptable method of pest
management
History of biological control in India
•The history of biological control of weeds dates
back to the seventeenth century and since.
•In fact, the first unintentional outstanding success
of biological control of prickly pear in India during
1795 by cochineal insect
•Systematic biological control research In India,
started with the establishment of the Indian station
of Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control
(CIBC) at Bengaluru in 1957 with need based 23
substations at various places in different states
•AICRP-BC&W was established in 1977 with 10 centres, which
increased to 16 under the aegis of Project Directorate of Biological
Control (PDBC),
•During XIth plan, PDBC was upgraded as National Bureau of
Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII) to act as a nodal agency
for biological control of crop pests.
•In the XIIth plan, the Bureau was re-named as National Bureau of
Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR)
•National Research Center for Weed Science (NRCWS) came into
existence in 1989 at Jabalpur
•Upgraded to Directorate of Weed Science Research in 2009 and
renamed Directorate of Weed Research (DWR) in 2015.
•Now, DWR shall deal on issues related to weed management
including biological control of weeds in India with the help of its 23
AICRP-WM centres
Suppression of terrestrial weeds in Non Cropped Area
Prickly pear :
The first outstanding biological suppression of
this weed in India occurred naturally without man's
efforts by the
middle of nineteenth century by
insect.
Dactylopius indicus Green. Which was
imported in 1795 from Brazil to produce commercial
dye
from cactus. But it was mistaken for the
true cochineal insect D.cacti. Although, D. indicus
failed to produce superiour quality of dye but it
controlled cactus species Opuntia monocantha
from
India. Another insect D. tomentosus was
imported in 1924 from
north America which
controlled another cactus species O. dillenii
in
India. At present, cactus is not a problematic
weed in India. Its occurrence is quite scattered.
Lantana camera :
(Family Vervenaceae).
The
lantana is an
obnoxious
weed
which has severely
infested waste land, forest
land and road and railway
side tracks.
(Sushil kumar,
1993). So far 9 insect species
have been introduced in to
India but none of the species
caused extensive damage to
lantana except lantana bug.
Teleonemia scrupulosa.
Chromolaena odorata
• Chromolaena odorata, a native of
West Indies and continental
America, is a serious weed of
pastures, forests, orchards and
during October 1984 a nucleus
culture of about 500 larvae of
the Sri Lankan strain of
Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata was
supplied to (KAU).
• Poorly established in Kerala,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
• Partially effective
Biological Control of Chromolanea odorata using
Cecidocharus connexa
• A gall forming insect species
Cecidochares connexa has
been imported and release by
NBAII after host specificity
test.
• It is being released in Kerela
and Assam
• It was proposed during
AICRP Workshop on
Biological Control to have a
project of its release in
Chhattisgarh by DWSR
Biological Control
of Crofton Weed,
Ageratina
adenophora by
gallfly,
Procecidochares
utilis
• Ageratina adenophora, a native of Mexico, has spread
to the
• Hilly areas of north and south India, forming dense
thickets up to some
A survey about parthenium infestation and awareness level in
India
Name of state
Parthenium Infestation Awareness level
level
Andhra Pradesh
Bihar
Chhatisgarh
Gujrat
Haryana
Himanchal Pradesh
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharastra
NE States
Orissa
Rajasthan
Tamilnadu
Utter Pradesh
West Bengal
Rating : 0 –lowest; 5 highest
3
4
4
3
4
2
3
4
1
4
4
2
2
3
3
4
2
4
4
4
2
4
4
3
5
2
4
4
2
1
4
4
4
5
Spread of Parthenium in India during last 50 years
1955-1970
1991-2006
Occurrence in Kargil region in J&K and
Andman & Nicobar island is important
Biological control of
Parthenium
Indigenous
insect
Nupserha sp.
Infest 10-95population
during rainy season
By exotic insects:
In 1983 at three insects namely
defoliating beetle
Zygogramma
bicolorata
Pallister (Coleoptera:
Chrysomelidae), the flower feeding weevil Smicronyx
lutulentus Dietz (Coleoptera: Curculionidiae) and the stem
boring moth Epiblema strenuana (Walker) (Lepidoptera:
Tortricidae) were imported in India (Singh 1993).
S. lutulentus could not be multiplied in the laboratory while
E. strenuana was found to complete its life cycle on a oil seed
crop niger (Guizotia abyssinica
Study of host specificity and damage potential revealed
Zygogramma bicolorata, a safe Bioagent Thereafter, field
releases were carried out at Sultanpalya area in Bangalore
Spectacular success at Jabalpur
Searching and killing of
parthenium amidst other
vegetation
Nipped in the bud
• Fate of a new
flush of
parthenium
after timely
augmentation
of the beetle
Over all Impact on parthenium abundance at a site
2006
2005
2007
2008
Economic benefit by Mexican beetle
at Jabalpur
Rs (in lakh)
120
100.8
100
80
60
40
20
0
20.43
5.4
1
Year
In 3rd year
In 4th year
In 5th year
Mass rearing and supply of
Mexican beetles
• Beetles were mass
reared at Jabalpur
during early June and
supplied to centres
where beetles have not
established so far
• About 1 lakh beetles
were distributed to
KVKs, AICRP-WC,
NGOs, municipalities,
farmers, defense
organisations etc.
•
DWSR efforts to distribute and
popularize bioagent
• Nucleus culture has
been supplied to all
the KVKs
• Distributed to
farmers, colony
residents, NGOs
Mexican beetle
supplied to
AICRP Centres
and KVKs
Identification of botanicals which
have suppressing ability
• Vary region to region but
the most competitive plants
were Cassia sericea, C. tora,
Hyptis suaveolens,
Amaranthus spinosus,
Lantana camara, Cannavis
sativa etc.
• C. sericea was wide spread
in Karnataka, T.N.,
• C. tora. was wide spread in
M.P., Chhatisgarh,
Maharashtra
• C. sativa in Uttranchal
• H. suavelones was moderate
in spread throughout India
Cassia tora
Jabalpur
Large scale demonstration of parthenium
replacement by C. tora
• Seeds were scattered during
April-May 2005 at three
sites, each covering about
one Km on one side of road
• These sites were severely
infested with parthenium
during last year
Effect of C. tora on
Parthenium
replacement
Awareness among students through Cash Award Quiz Contest
Mass rearing and supply of Mexican beetles
• Beetles were mass
reared at Jabalpur
and
supplied
to
different part of the
country places where
beetles
have
not
established so far
•
Mass rearing during winter
NRCWS efforts to distribute and popularize bioagent
• About 0.45 million beetles have been supplied as a
Nucleus culture to different parts of country
• Distributed to farmers, colony residents, NGOs
Organizing of training programme to make trainers to
educate general public
Biological control of
aquatic weeds in India
Damage by Cassida sp.
Per cent damaged plants by Cassida spp. at
Jabalpur during September
% Damaged and Un-damaged
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Damaged plants (%)
Mahanandha
76
Ranital
92
Sanjeevni NagarS hanti Nagar
100
100
Panagar
52
Un-damaged plants (%)
24
8
0
0
48
Damaged leaves(%)
36.9
82.3
100
94.4
74.7
un-damaged leaves (%)
63.1
17.7
0
5.6
25.3
Site
Per cent leaf area damage by Cassida spp.
Leaf area damage (%)
60
August
September
40
20
0
Mahanadha
Ranital
Sanjeevni Nagar
Shanti Nagar
August
49.88
35.49
56.68
34.39
September
47.61
32.11
32.99
29.64
Site
Biological control of water
hyacinth by Neochetina spp.
Mahanadda Pond-
rd
3
wave
Biological and chemical integration
to control water hyacinth
Release of beetle on 31st
May
Integration of herbicides in 15%
area
Collapsing one wave
Partial clearing of pond
New growth of water
hyacinth
Again infesting the pond
Collapse of second wave
Integration of herbicides in 15%
area again
• There was drastic decrease in flower production in
second wave of growth, which reduced to about 1
flower/m2 from initial 15/m2. Like wise, there was
decrease in height of plant, dry weight and length
and width of leaves.
Biological control of Salvinia molesta
Scope of biological control
•In India, after 1980s, only one or two
introductions
been made.
There
Following
Alien Invasivehave
Weed distributed
throughout
India is great
scope
•Weeds like C. odorata, A. adenoforum, M.
mikarantha and Miomosa diplotricha have
assumed serious status, need to explore the
introduction of new bioagent against these
weeds.
•Introduction of new bioagents against water
hyacinth, Parthenium, alligator weed