Global Plant Protection News

Parthenium hysterophorus is a destructive weed native to Central and South America that has accidentally been introduced to many regions of the world including Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. The weed dramatically reduces crop yields, impacts biodiversity, causes human health issues such as respiratory difficulty and rashes, and taints valuable livestock milk. Beginning in 2005, Virginia Tech’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management and Virginia State University initiated a classical biocontrol program to manage the weed in East Africa. Biocontrol programs have also been set up in Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, and India, with fortuitous introductions of natural enemies to Nepal. Zygogramma bicolorata – a leaf-feeding beetle – and Listronotus setosipennis – a stem-boring weevil – are the primarily natural enemies implemented in the biocontrol program, but a number of supplementary natural enemies have been introduced to Australia. The use of biocontrol to mitigate the spread of parthenium has demonstrated major success reducing the vegetative and reproductive aspects of the weed and restor-ing valuable land. This webinar will cover biocontrol of parthenium weed in both Asia and Africa, as well as how to develop a biocontrol program from start to finish, how to rear and release natural enemies, evaluation of suitable biocontrol sites, among other topics.