Socio-economic impacts of Parthenium hysterophorus L. in East Shewa and West Arsi zones of Ethiopia

Abstract

Parthenium hysterophorus L. is non-native invasive plant species belongs to the family Asteraceae. Currently it is a notorious weed in Ethiopia. Socio-economic impacts as well as the local people's perception towards P. hysterophorus are poorly understood. Thus, the aim of this study was to generate information for a better understanding of the means of dispersal, source introduction and socio-economic impacts, of P. hysterophorus in East shewa and West arsi Zones of the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. The study revealed that parthenium was introduced mainly by following vehicles road and railways. This weed grows throughout the year. This results in its fast dispersal. Many mechanisms were assumed by respondents for fast distribution of P. hysterophorus in the study zones. Among these vehicles and wind are the major agents, which proliferate the seeds of the weed. Based on the study it grows in roadsides, grazing land, cropland, village sides and wastelands. Most of respondents also indicated that the weed first appeared on roadside and propagated to other habitats. This finding indicated that the weed high in disturbed habitats. Control methods, which are mostly practiced by local people, were tillage and hand weeding. However, these methods were not an efficient to control the weed distribution; rather it is expanding from time to time since its invasions. P. hysterophorus has a number of socioeconomic impacts that include effect on crop and livestock production, human health, soil fertility and biodiversity. This finding showed that it competes and suppress the growth of crops due its allelopathic nature. Seeds of this weed changes the normal flavor of food when mix with it. It also colonized grazing fields, thus causing animal food scarcity, animals' health defect. This finding also reported that P. hysterophorus has health hazards on human being, which include allergic, skin itching (irritation), cough and hemorrhage. Generally, P. hysterophorus is a foremost troublesome weed and subterfuge threat on agriculture, biodiversity and on human health. Therefore, proper and targeted control methods should be employed to control the further spread and reduce the adverse impacts.

Socioeconomic and ecological consequences of Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) in Boset Woreda, Ethiopia

“…Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License 2016; Hundessa et al, 2016). It is described as an annual Khan et al, 2012;Adkins and Shabbir, 2014;Hundessa et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017) or, under certain conditions, a short-lived perennial (Adkins and Shabbir, 2014), procumbent Hundessa and Belachew, 2016;Hundessa et al, 2016) or with an erect stem (Tadesse, 2004;Adkins and Shabbir, 2014;Bagachi et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017).…”

“…It is described as an annual Khan et al, 2012;Adkins and Shabbir, 2014;Hundessa et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017) or, under certain conditions, a short-lived perennial (Adkins and Shabbir, 2014), procumbent Hundessa and Belachew, 2016;Hundessa et al, 2016) or with an erect stem (Tadesse, 2004;Adkins and Shabbir, 2014;Bagachi et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017). At maturity, the weed develops several branches in its top half (Tadesse, 2004;Adkins and Shabbir, 2014;Bobo and Abdeta, 2016;Bagachi et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017) and becomes a diffused leafy herb with a height of 0.5 to 1.50 m, reaching a maximum of 2 m in good soils Hundessa and Belachew, 2016;Hundessa et al, 2016;Mekonnen, 2017).…”

“…Notwithstanding this, it is supposed that the weed was introduced accidentally as a seed contaminant of food grains imported from overseas where Parthenium occurred on farmlands or during the Ethio-Somalia war in 1976 to 77 by army vehicles Lisanework and Sharma, 2013;Hundessa and Belachew, 2016).…”

“…Parthenium is currently spreading at an alarming rate in various parts of Ethiopia (Bobo and Abdeta, 2016;Zelalem and Tora, 2019) mainly following the direction of low slope (Kebede, 2008;Belachew and Tessema, 2015;Hundessa et al, 2016) and waterways (Kebede, 2008;Hundessa et al, 2016). The seeds of the weed are primarily dispersed through transport, agricultural implements (Lisanework and Sharma, 2013;Bobo and Abdeta, 2016;Maszura et al, 2018), crop seeds, wind (Bobo and Abdeta, 2016;Maszura et al, 2018), compost, organic manures (Maszura et al, 2018), flood water, and tire-carried mud of vehicles (Kebede, 2008;Lisanework and Sharma, 2013;Maszura et al, 2018).…”

Can camels disperse seeds of the invasive tree Prosopis juliflora?

“…Eight years after its introduction, local people viewed it as an unwelcome, rapidly spreading, invasive species (Abbas et al ., ). In Egypt, domestic camels ( Camelus dromedarius L.) seem to be the main dispersal vector accelerating P. juliflora spread along trade routes and animal tracks into new areas (Shiferaw et al ., ; Hundessa, ), including populations in different dry (seasonal) river beds such as Wadi Shalal, Wadi Mericowan, Wadi Sarara, Wadi Shab and lately Wadi Aibib and the village of Hala'ib. Thus, P. juliflora 's invasive range has expanded 116 km northward from the original introduction (Old‐Hala'ib village; 22°13′64″N, 36°38′5″E) to the most recent invasive population (Wadi Aibib; 22°47′56″N, 35°43′49″E) (Usama, ).…”