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Abstract
Charles L. Webber III. 2009.
Pelargonic acid – a potential
organic aquatic herbicide for duckweed management. JEMREST 6:00-00
10.4029/2009jemrest6no114
Duckweeds
(Lemna spp.) are small, free floating
aquatic plants that flourish on stagnant, or slow moving, water surfaces
throughout the continental U.S. Members of the genus are among the smallest flowering plants, providing food for fish
and fowl, but their aggressive growth and invasive tendencies make them
formidable aquatic weeds which uncontrolled can result in oxygen depletion,
fish kills, and death of submerged aquatic plants. Greenhouse research was conducted at Lane,
OK, to determine the feasibility of using pelargonic acid to control
duckweed. Pelargonic acid is a fatty acid naturally
occurring in many plants and animals, and present in many foods. AU720 (65%
pelargonic acid, BioSafe Systems LLC) is a potential organic herbicide under
development for aquatic weed control.
Research treatments included 4 dilutions of the product (0.0006%,
0.0015%, 0.006%, and 0.015% v/v) and a control (0% v/v) with 8 replications
and the experiment was repeated twice.
Duckweed (7.5 g) was added to 400 mL beakers containing 250 mL of the
solutions and the beakers placed in a greenhouse. Visual ratings were collected 1, 3, and 5
days after treatment. Pelargonic acid was phytotoxic at all dilutions.
Duckweed control was less than acceptable (< 10% control) at
0.0006% and 0.0015%, inconsistent at 0.006% (3 to 99% control), but very
effective (96 to 100% control) at 0.015%. If used at 0.015% v/v, pelargonic
acid (AU720) has potential as a duckweed management tool.
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