Effects of drawdowns and dessication on tubers of hydrilla, an exotic aquatic weed

• Published in: Weed science 2001-01, Vol.49 (1), p.135-140
• Main Authors: Doyle, Robert D., Smart, R. Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic weeds; dewatering; drawdown; Hydrilla verticillata; HYLLI; mortality; physical control; sediments; submersed plants; tubers; viability; water content; WEED MANAGEMENT
• ISSN: 0043-1745; 1550-2759
• DOI: 10.1614/0043-1745%282001%29049%5B0135%3AEODADO%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Subterranean turions (tubers) of hydrilla lose viability when desiccated. Experimental data showed that freshly collected tubers had a moisture content between 50 and 60% and more than 90% viability. When desiccated, there was an approximate 2% increase in tuber mortality with each percent decline in moisture content. However under field conditions, the tuber bank within the exposed sediments of a northern Texas reservoir showed no decline in number or tuber viability throughout a 12-mo continuous drawdown. Apparently, the buried tubers were never subject to sufficient dessication to damage them. Finally, an experimental pond with an extensive hydrilla tuber bank was manipulated through six flood/drawdown cycles to determine the effects of short-term drawdowns on tuber survival and quiescence. Initially, the pond had a tuber bank of about 676 and 305 tubers m−2 in the shallow and deep zones, respectively. Although the tuber number was reduced to fewer than 15 to 30 tubers m−2 by these repetitive drawdowns, hydrilla tubers were not eradicated from the pond. Nomenclature: Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (L.F.) Royle HYLLI.