Abstract
Parthenium weed has been invading native and managed Australian grasslands for almost 40 years. This study quantified the potential of selected plant mixtures to suppress the growth of parthenium weed and followed their response to grazing and their impact upon plant community diversity. The first mixture consisted of predominantly introduced species including Rhodes grass, Bisset bluegrass, butterfly pea and green panic. This mixture produced biomass rapidly and showed tolerance to weed species other than parthenium weed. However, the mixture was unable to suppress the growth of parthenium weed. The second mixture of predominantly native pasture species (including forest bluegrass, Queensland bluegrass, Buffel grass and siratro) produced biomass relatively slowly, but eventually reached the same biomass production as the first mixture 12 weeks after planting. This mixture suppressed parthenium weed re-establishment by 78% compared to the control treatment. Its tolerance to the invasion of other weed species and the maintenance of forage species evenness was also superior. The total diversity was five times higher for the mixture communities as compared to the plant community in the control treatment. Therefore, using the suppressive pasture mixtures may provide an improved sustainable management approach for parthenium weed in grasslands.
Highlights
Invasive alien plant species negatively affect ecosystem structure and functioning at multiple tiers [1,2]
The parthenium weed populations forming within the two sown plant mixtures were of equal
The parthenium weed populations forming within the two sown plant mixtures were of equal biomass by 30 days after emergence (DAE) as compared to that seen in the control plots, with no biomass by 30 days after emergence (DAE) as compared to that seen in the control plots, with no obvious suppression of biomass detected (Figure 1a)
Summary
Invasive alien plant species negatively affect ecosystem structure and functioning at multiple tiers [1,2]. These species often disturb the native species composition and reduce the vegetative biodiversity by dominating the landscape of the invaded area. Originating from the tropical and subtropical Americas, this noxious invader has infested more than 40 countries around the world, including in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Australia [4]. It is a major weed in crops and pastures, acts as an alternative host to several major. Plants 2020, 9, 1587 crop pests, negatively affects native plant species diversity within a wide range of environments, causes toxicity problems to domesticated livestock and significant health problems to people [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12].
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