PREVALENCE OF ALIEN WEED PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS L. IN GRAZING AND WASTELANDS OF DISTRICT ATTOCK, PAKISTAN - T. Riaz; A. Javaid (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2011)
Surveys of waste and grazing lands from 9 localities of the district Attock were undertaken during March-April , 2009 to study the distribution of alien weed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) in comparison with the other weed species of the area. A total of 58 weed species belonging to 25 angiospermic families, were found growing in the studied area.Fourteen weed species, including partheniumwere found to be growing in all the 9 surveyed sites exhibiting 100% prevalence. Parthenium was found to be the most frequently occurring species in the area with absolute frequency (AF) of 60% and relative frequency (RF) of 4.52%. Parthenium was also the most densely populated weed in the area exhibiting an absolute density (AD) of 19.4 and relative density (RD) of 0.67%. The second most frequently occurring and densely populated weed in the area was Achyranthes asperL.. The present study concludes that parthenium has become one of the major weeds in district Attock. There is an urgent need to take some appropriate measures to stop its further spread in the area.
Keywords: journal article; Alien weed; Attock; Pakistan; Parthenium hysterophorus