A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Existing Approaches for Controlling and Managing the Proliferation of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes): Review

Abstract

The proliferation of the invasive Water hyacinth (WH) plant leads to ecological, economic, public health, and agricultural problems. Several efforts have been deployed to control its spread, but no concreate results have been obtained. Only few studies dealing with systematic approaches for the WH control have been conducted. To establish a road map for the best control methods to be adopted, this review highlights the control programs that have been tested worldwide and describes, through a deep literature analysis and comparison, the most effective and sustainable control programs for managing the proliferation of this aquatic weed. Through a critical analysis, this review evaluates the advantages and drawbacks of the main proposed control methods including biological, chemical and physical methods. The obtained results suggested that short and medium term physical control promptly manages the plant’s proliferation and thus could complement the effect of the biological control. Moreover, to be economically viable, the harvested WH through physical means must be valorized to generate high value-added products. Furthermore, run-off nutrients control could reduce the end-of-catchment loads and would help the resilience of freshwater bodies and promote plant removal. Descriptive results analysis confirmed that an integrated control approach combining “biological and physical’’ is the most sustainable and cost-effective approach. The adaptation of these methods based on the socio-economic context of each country, could promote ecosystem restoration, self-generation, and conservation for a sustainable development.

The importance of long‐term post‐release studies in classical biological control: Insect–plant monitoring and public awareness of water hyacinth management (Pontederia crassipes) in Dique Los Sauces, Argentina

“…Based on the compilation of large-scale experiences of water hyacinth control programmes in 26 countries conducted by Karouach et al (2022), our work can be considered the longest water hyacinth biocontrol programme studied to date. The control of germinated water hyacinth plants in the Dique Los Sauces reservoir is another good example of successful CBC of weeds.…”

Invasive Water Hyacinth Challenges, Opportunities, Mitigation, and Policy Implications: The Case of the Nile Basin

“…Physical control remains the only method through which WH can be transformed into value-added products [16]. However, the significant disadvantage of this mechanism is that it expends a great deal of energy and needs a high investment cost [56].…”

“…Fresh WH cooked with rice grain and fish feast and blended with vegetable waste, rice bran, copra cake, and salt and copra meal is utilized as feed for pigs, ducks, and lake fish in nations like Thailand, Malaysia, China, and the Philippines [57]. Other researchers also showed the utilization of WH as dairy cattle feed [56]. Akinwande et al [68] also, with their study conducted on three water bodies in Nigeria, demonstrated that biomass yield, synthetic arrangement, and nutritive capability of WH to be used as feed for creatures, particularly ruminants.…”

“…These new biopolymers are highly compatible, readily available, cost-effective, and encourage waste and pollution recycling and eradication. They include polysaccharides, polypeptides, and polynucleotides [56]. WH could be used with other agricultural wastes to create bioplastic with a high biodegradability rate and replace synthetic plastics.…”

The Multifaceted Function of Water Hyacinth in Maintaining Environmental Sustainability and the Underlying Mechanisms: A Mini Review

“…To control WH, several strategies have been employed, including physical control by manual removal and mechanical dredging, chemical control by spraying herbicides, biological control by releasing insect enemies and pathogenic fungi, and integrated control by combining two or more of the above-mentioned methods [ 6 ]. In addition to the drawbacks, including laborious, environmentally unfriendly and unstable in terms of efficiency, the cost for WH management is relatively high [ 4 , 7 , 8 ]. For example, almost $46 million has been spent on managing aquatic invasive weeds, mainly WH, in the California Bay-Delta during 2013–2016 [ 9 ].…”