Congress grass, Parthenium hysterophorus L., of the family Asteraceae (tribe: Heliantheae), is an erect and much branched annual or ephermeral herb, known for its notorious role as environmental, medical, and agricultural hazards. It is believed to have been introduced into India and Australia from North America and in the last few years the weed has emerged as the seventh most devastating weed...

Background Parthenium dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory disease with activated T-lymphocytes that recognize the antigens and undergo proliferation and differentiation. T-cells have a pathogenic role in many inflammatory diseases. Telomeres are specialized repeats at the end of chromosomes that protect it from degradation, end-to-end fusion and important for the integrity. Till date there is ...

In the years 2012-14 a series of extensive surveys for natural enemies of parthenium were conducted in Haryana. During survey, a leaf spot disease has been regularly reported on congress grass at different parts of the Kurukshetra and its adjoining areas. The fungal pathogen was isolated from the affected parts of parthenium leaves and on the basis of cultural, morphological and molecular chara...

The stems and roots of the semiarid shrub guayule, Parthenium argentatum, contain a significant amount of natural rubber. Rubber accumulates in guayule when plants are vegetatively and reproductively dormant, complicating the relationship between growth/reproduction and product synthesis. To evaluate the factors regulating the partitioning of carbon to rubber, carbon assimilation and partitioni...

Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) a shrub native to Mexico, is now being acclimated in Europe as a potential crop. The main extractible fractions are polyisoprene (similar to Hevea rubber) for producing tires and allergy-free gloves and resin (GRe). This work deals with valorising this last fraction, after water-based extraction of the latex. To date GRe has not been extensively investigated, in ...

BACKGROUND Parthenium hysterophorus is the commonest cause of airborne contact dermatitis in India. Azathioprine has been shown to be effective and safe in parthenium dermatitis, but there are no reports of comparison of steroids and azathioprine in this condition. AIMS To study the therapeutic efficacy of azathioprine versus betamethasone in patients having contact dermatitis to parthenium a...

Parthenium hysterophorus L., compositae, also known as congress weed, carrot weed, star weed, reaching a height of 2 m in weeks of germination, is believed to have entered India accidentally in the mid 1950's and is now available abundantly all over the India. Leaves are traditionally used in the treatment of asthma and allergy, leavas of the plant were extracted successively using aqueous and ...

Parthenium hysterophorus is a weed of global significance causing great losses in India. Health challenges recorded in humans and animals are serious. Its management requires a collective approach of government and non-government agencies. Present study focuses to measure the prevalence and severity of Parthenium hysterophorus and experiments were designed to study its germination, seed dispers...

The weedy species Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) possesses a Kranz-like leaf anatomy. The bundle sheath cells are thick-walled and contain numerous granal chloroplasts, prominent mitochondria, and peroxisomes, all largely arranged in a centripetal position. Both mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts accumulate starch. P. hysterophorus exhibits reduced photorespiration as indicated by ...

Globally, there are a number of treatments indicated for the control of invasive alien plant species like parthenium. The production and use of vermicomposts from weeds or other wastes in agriculture is economical and eco-friendly. The unique advantage of using vermicomposting is that it helps to build and sustain soil condition and fertility for sustainable agricultural activities. The present...