Madhya Pradesh State PCS

• 12 Jul 2024

Eradicating Invasive Aquatic Weeds

Why in News?

Recently, An exotic beetle named Cyrtobagus salvinia has successfully eradicated an invasive weed species, Salvinia molesta from Sarani reservoir (Satpura dam) built on the Tawa river in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh.

Key Points

• Scientists at Jabalpur-based Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Directorate of Weed Research (ICAR-DWR) revealed that Cyrtobagus salvinia, a Brazilian bioagent specifically targeting Salvinia molesta, was imported to India after thorough research and with the necessary governmental approvals.

Salvinia molesta

• It is an aquatic fern that is indigenous to south-eastern Brazil. It is also known as gigantic Salvinia or Kariba weed since it contaminated a sizable area of Lake Kariba between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
• Salvinia's characteristics include Small, floaters with branching, creeping stems that have hairs on the papillae of the leaf surfaces but no true roots.
• The leaves are arranged in trimerous whorls, with one leaf being finely divided, petiolate, rootlike, and pendant, while the other two are green, sessile or short-petioled, flat, whole, and floating.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research

• It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• It was established on 16 July 1929 and was formerly known as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research.
• It is headquartered at New Delhi.
• It is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.