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

During official surveillance actions, a focus of the quarantine plague present Amaranthus palmeri (caruru palmeri or giant caruru) was detected on a rural property with soybean cultivation, in the district of Porto Caiuá, municipality of Naviraí, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Confirmation was obtained using a molecular technique (genetic sequencing), carried out by the Federal Agricultural Defense Laboratory of Goiânia (LFDA-GO), in samples collected by the State Animal and Plant Health Defense Agency of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (Iagro).

A Amaranthus palmeri is a fast-growing and extremely aggressive exotic weed. The plant is at the top of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) list of pests with the greatest phytosanitary risk for Brazil, with the potential risk of reducing the productivity of soybeans, corn and cotton by approximately 80% to 90%, in addition the possibility of crossing with other species of the genus, including the transfer of herbicide resistance genes.

To learn more about the caruru (Amaranthus palmeri), read:

• Control of the caruru-palmeri weed in Brazil;

• Phytosanitary measures against the weed Amaranthus palmeri;

• Management of glyphosate-resistant pigweed;

• Amaranthus hybridus: a problem for soybeans.

In the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Iagro has adopted the necessary phytosanitary measures to identify the origin, route of introduction and dispersion of the pest, aiming to adopt strategic phytosanitary measures of suppression and control, as well as collecting objective evidence to support the epidemiological survey of the pest, which will enable the identification of the ways in which the invasive plant spreads, promoting measures to eradicate existing outbreaks and preventive actions to prevent the occurrence of new cases.

Producers must also adopt phytosanitary measures to control the pest, such as biweekly monitoring of agricultural crops; restrict the movement of machinery (trucks, implements and harvester) from outside the rural property; in infested plots, promote the disinfestation of agricultural machinery on the rural property, before using it in another area without the occurrence of the pest; and in the case of the presence of pigweed plants with resistance to herbicides, bag the plant before pulling up and incinerate the plant material.

Mapa warns that due to its potential for dissemination and damage to the crops it affects, it is of fundamental importance to immediately notify any suspected occurrence of the pest to the local phytosanitary authorities - Iagro or SFA-MS - in order to prevent its spread and mitigate the direct and indirect impacts that the pest can cause.