Abstract

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a free floating fresh water weed is recognised as one of the world's worst aquatic weeds (Penfound and Earla, 1948). Its fast spread and multiplication in India warrants attention (Sen, 1947 and Sundaram and Mehta, 1960). Of several methods adopted for its control, the use of chemical weed killers have proved to be by far the most effective and economical (Sen, 1961.) Among chemicals used for control of water hyacinth, the amine formulations of 2, 4-dichlorophen- oxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) have gained prominence (Hitchcock et al, 1949 and 1950; Seale et al, 1946; Sundaram and Mehta loccit; Zimmerman et al 1950). Recently, it has been reported that 3-amino-1, 2, 4-triazole (ATA) offers better control than possible with 2, 4-D amines, (Seaman 1961). It was hence of interest to make a comparative study on the effectiveness of 2, 4-D amine and ATA in the control of water hyacinth. This paper summaries the observations made and their implications.

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