01957nas a2200205   4500008004100000020001400041245019000055210006900245260001200314300001200326490000700338520114400345653001501489100002701504700002301531700001301554700001701567700003201584856013501616       2011                        eng d  a0254-405900aIntegrated biological control of water hyacinths, Eichhornia crassipes by a novel combination of grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes, 1844), and the weevil, Neochetina spp0 aIntegrated biological control of water hyacinths Eichhornia cras  cJanuary  a162-1660 v293 aThe efficacy of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella (Cyprinidae) and weevils Neochetina spp. (Curculionidae) to control the aquatic weed, water hyacinth, is investigated in a square net cage (happas) setting at a farm in Cuddalore District, South India. This novel combination of insects and fish is found to be superior to individual treatments for controlling the weed growth within 110 d. The biomass of the weed, number of plants, percentage of flowered plants and chlorophyll contents were studied. The weed biomass is reduced from 5 kg (day 1) to 0.33 kg (day 110) when exposed to grass carp and weevils. The number of plants is reduced to 0.75 in grass carp and weevil exposed happas, while it is 741.5 in the control. The mean number of leaves per plant is also reduced. In addition, the chlorophyll a and b are significantly reduced in happas exposed to the combination of fish and insects when compared to the other treatments. Based on the results of this study, we consider the combined use of grass carp and weevils to be more efficient and sustainable for managing water hyacinths than the use of these organisms individually.10aNeochetina1 aGopalakrishnan, Ayyaru1 aRajkumar, Mayalagu1 aSun, Jun1 aParida, Ajay1 aMaran, Venmathi, Balu Alaga  uhttps://weevil.myspecies.info/integrated-biological-control-water-hyacinths-eichhornia-crassipes-novel-combination-grass-carp-cten