Controlling Kudzu with Fungus

Kudzu, which spreads at the rate of 150,000 acres annually, could meet its match in a naturally occurring fungus that ARS scientists have formulated as a biologically based herbicide. In fact, the fungus works so quickly that kudzu plants sprayed with it in the morning start showing signs of damage by mid-afternoon.

Kudzu, which spreads at the rate of 150,000 acres annually, easily outpaces the use of herbicide spraying and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually.

But in Stoneville, Miss., ARS plant pathologist Doug Boyette and colleagues are testing a fungus named Myrothecium verrucaria, which infects kudzu with an astonishing speed of its own.

In greenhouse experiments, spray formulations killed 100 percent of kudzu seedlings and 90 to 100 percent of older plants in outdoor trials. Myrothecium also worked its anti-kudzu magic under a wide range of conditions, including the absence of dew. Additionally, host-range tests in 2005 showed that Myrothecium caused little or no injury to many of the woody plants known to occur in kudzu-infested habitats, including oak, cedar, pine, hickory, pecan, sassafras and blackberry.

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Adapted from materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service.