Dear readers, it is of great importance to know the botanical composition and identification of species that are not forage (weeds) within livestock ecosystems, since, many times they can cause a decrease in the productivity of species that are destined for animal food when their presence in grassland ecosystems increases. That is why this type of publications has as its focus to allow to know the variability of species in tropical agricultural agroecositems, which is a support alternative for agricultural producers and agronomy students, because the morphological and ecobiological characteristics of plant species that can be found in livestock ecosystems are disclosed and therefore apply efficient control methods in grazing areas.
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- ORIGIN OF THE NAME: according to Mejía (2009), its scientific name is Mimosa pudica, the name of the genus Mimosa comes from the Greek “mimein” which means movement and also from the word “meisthal” which means imitate, due to the movement of the leaflets that close when touched. On the other hand, the species name "Pudica" is a Latin adjective meaning pudic, demure. It is also important to note that it is commonly known by the name dormidera and belongs to the Fabaceae family.
- ECO-BIOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION: according to Gomes and Rivera (1995), this species is native to America and is distributed from Mexico to Brazil; it is a dicotyledonous, herbaceous plant and can be semi-woody at the base of the stem, has a shrubby growth, is perennial, presents thorn is its stems, semi erect, branched, can reach up to 1 meter in height, reproduces by seeds that germinate after ripening, as long as there are suitable conditions, otherwise they have the ability to remain in the soil. latency for a long time. Its prickly nature makes it a very harmful plant in paddocks, It adapts to fertile soils and temperatures that can range approximately between 25 and 35 ° C, some bibliographic reports indicate that they do not withstand temperatures below 13 ° C.
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- MORPHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION: it has a taproot, that is, a central deep root with lateral roots; the stem is its base has a semi-woody appearance with thorns and branched; its leaves are bipinnate compounds, the folíolos are opposite and there are approximately 12 to 25 pairs per leaf; these folíolos close when touched due to their sensitivity to external stimuli, the flowers are typical of some species fabaceae family has a spherical head shape, its fruit are grouped pods.
- DAMAGE AND CONTROL: as mentioned above, this plant has thorns on its stems, which can cause physical damage to its oral apparatus on forage surfaces where ruminant animals feed, which can affect the consumption and therefore the productivity of the animal, for its control, it can be carried out mechanically with the use of rotary or scythes, because its root system is deep, a systemic herbicide can be cut and applied to the open wound of the stem to inhibit its growth and radical development.
Dear readers, this plant is very striking because when its leaves are touched, their folíolos close as mentioned above, said action is known as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from any adversity such as insects or strong winds, said mechanism according to Vázquez and Yvanosky (2019), is known as Sismonasty which are transient movements in a plant in response to an external and precise stimulus. The authors note that the cells lose their turgor from the concentration of calcium and potassium ions that promote the outflow of water from the cells. A higher concentration of ions causes the transfer of water to intercellular spaces, causing the leaflets to close or contract being a rapid response, in 1 or 2 seconds, and returns to the initial position after approximately 8 and 15 minutes.
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| Bibliographic references |
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- Gomes, A. and Rivera, H. (1995). Description of weeds in coffee plantations. (2nd ed.).Chinchina: Cenicafé.
- Vázquez, C. and Yvanosky, J. (2019). Sismonasty: features, mechanism of action and examples Lifeder
- Mejía, J. (2009). Manual of banana weeds. Syngenta.
- Amesty, J. (2015). Botanical composition and identification of forage and non-food species in the hacienda la samaria. UNESUR.
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