Adapar publishes action plan to monitor exotic weeds

The Paraná Agricultural Defense Agency (Adapar) prepared an Action Plan with the objective of specifying the activities and implementation deadlines for monitoring the Amaranthus palmeri, exotic pigweed weed, fast growing and extremely aggressive. The work involves joining forces with the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and Embrapa Soja.

There is no record of the pest on Paraná soil, but it has been observed in plantations in several municipalities in Mato Grosso, since 2015, and, more recently, in Aral Moreira and Naviraí, in Mato Grosso do Sul, the latter close to the border with Paraná . Reports indicate that a plant can produce 100 to 1 million seeds. Therefore, with high potential for dissemination in agricultural production fields.

“This is a species with great competitive capacity, which can lead to significant losses in productivity”, says the coordinator of the Pest Prevention and Control Program in Agricultural and Forestry Crops at Adapar, Marcílio Martins Araújo. In areas where it occurs, it can reduce the productivity of soybeans, corn and cotton by 80% to 90%.

According to him, the A. palmeri it has the ability to cross with other species of the Amaranthus genus, transferring herbicide resistance genes. “Inefficient control can even make the harvest unfeasible, increasing the use of herbicides and production costs, with the potential to cause major losses to agriculture in Paraná”, he warns.

Monitoring and control goals

Information contained in the Document 384 - Characterization and management of Amaranthus palmeri, from Embrapa Soja, point out that A. palmeri seeds can be disseminated mainly through natural falls, irrigation channels, agricultural machinery and equipment, fertilizer compounds and animal manure, in addition to birds and mammals.

Birds can consume proportionally large quantities of seeds of this species and have a high potential for dissemination. Dispersal of palmeri pigeons by doves (doves) has been recorded more than 200 kilometers away. According to the document, the seeds do not have specific adaptation structures to dispersion by wind.

Adapar's Action Plan aims to reduce the chances of the pest developing in the State and, in the case of occurrence, to have pre-defined all monitoring and eradication steps. Several goals are foreseen, including training employees to work in monitoring, carrying out analyzes to define routes and areas with a greater risk of introducing the pest into the State, carrying out a detection survey, issuing alerts to Agricultural Traffic Inspection Stations to reinforce the control of the transit of agricultural machinery and implements, in addition to training technical assistance professionals on the risks and threats related to A. palmeri.

“It is important to highlight that rural producers also play a fundamental role in pest prevention work”, highlights Juliano Farinazzio Galhardo, Plant Health coordinator at Adapar. “Agricultural machinery and implements must undergo complete cleaning, without soil or crop residues attached, so that they can be transported from one property to another, thus reducing the risk of spreading the pest.”

Producers must notify Adapar in case of suspected occurrence of pigweed

In addition, the producer must carry out monitoring on the property and, in case of suspicion of the occurrence of pigweeds that are difficult to control and spreading in agricultural fields, immediately notify Adapar, so that measures can be adopted to contain, suppress or eradicate the outbreak. , as appropriate.

Document 384, from Embrapa Soja, provides data that makes it possible to identify the pest. “The faster the detection, the less the spread to other areas”, reinforces Galhardo. Suspected cases must be reported through the Adapar Internet portal, under the banner Notification of Phytosanitary Occurrence, or at the Adapar Regional Agricultural Health Unit (URS), closest to the rural establishment.

Learn more about Amaranthus palmeri:

• RS Agriculture Secretariat issues phytosanitary alert on palmeri pigweed;

• Chemical and cultural control are the best strategies to combat Amaranthus palmeri;

• Focus of "Amaranthus palmeri" is detected in Mato Grosso do Sul;

• Management of glyphosate-resistant pigweed.