Pennisetum Hydridum ’s Potential for Controlling Invasive Chromolaena Odorata

Qiu-Yuan Xu, Dan Wang, Guo-Ming Quan, Jia-En Zhang, Rong-Hua Li and Hui Liu
Additional contact information
Qiu-Yuan Xu: The Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510650, China
Dan Wang: The Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510650, China
Guo-Ming Quan: Department of Urban Construction Engineering, Guangzhou City Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510650, China
Jia-En Zhang: The Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510650, China
Rong-Hua Li: The Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510650, China
Hui Liu: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: The exotic Chromolaena odorata is one of the most destructive invasive plant species in South China, and hence an efficient and sustainable control method is urgent. One method, replacement control, which eliminates harmful plants by introducing another competitive plant, is being used increasingly for controlling invasive plants. To test the potential of Pennisetum hydridum to control C. odorata , a series of polyculture experiments with different proportions of the two species was conducted. Competitive indices, plant morphological and physiological traits, and soil nutrient contents were measured to test the impacts of P. hydridum on C. odorata . The presence of P. hydridum significantly suppressed growth of C. odorata , and P. hydridum was not sensitive to the presence of C. odorata . Moreover, increased root/shoot ratios of P. hydridum enhanced its underground competitive ability, and competition between the two species resulted in remarkable reductions of soil nutrient contents which would further decrease the competitiveness of the invasive C. odorata . In summary, our results suggest that P. hydridum is a prospective candidate to control C. odorata .

Keywords: competition mechanisms; total relative yield; competitive balance index; relative yield; shade tolerance; root/shoot ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5990/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5990/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5990-:d:281065

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().