Cogongrass is a perennial rhizomatous grass native to east and southeast Asia, India, Micronesia, Australia, and eastern and southern Africa. It is used for thatching the roofs of traditional homes throughout southeast Asia.
The significance of the U.S. Patent #8,278,248 is that mycoherbicide for controlling Cogongrass deals with a specialized fungus, which is able to cause significant disease on Cogongrass thereby stopping its ability to grow and become invasive. Currently, Cogongrass is managed and ineffectively controlled by herbicides at a cost of nearly $20 million a year to the state of Florida.
Residues from these herbicides are potentially toxic to the environment with significant impacts to many of the natural ecosystems. This fungal organism, discovered by scientists Muchovej and Onokpise, provides potential for controlling Cogongrass without the use of pesticides and dramatically reducing the cost of managing it. Cogongrass is considered one of the world’s top ten devastating, invasive species and noxious weeds worldwide. It is ranked among the top seven worst invasive plant species in Florida and the Southeastern United States and is extremely damaging to native areas as well as to crop land. This discovery has the possibility of helping to control and manage Cogongrass not only here in the United States, but also worldwide.
K. Ken Redda, professor and acting vice president for Research, said, “I salute the achievements of these two outstanding FAMU CAFS researchers. It speaks volumes about the high quality of research engagement by Drs. Muchovej and Onokpise in the area of agricultural sciences. It exemplifies the best of collaborative effort.”
Robert W. Taylor, professor and dean of CAFS, expressed his excitement regarding the patent.
“This is a good example of biological control which is using one organism to control another without the use of noxious chemicals to further contaminate our environment,” said Taylor, who is also the director of the Land Grant Programs. “The idea to take this approach involving a microbe to control Cogongrass, which is very invasive in forests throughout the Southeast is very creative, indeed, and indicates the quality of faculty we have at FAMU in the CAFS.”