ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF WEED FLORA OF RUBBER PLANTATION IN KULASEKHARAM, KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT

Present study was conducted 2017 to 2018 in and around Rubber Plantations in Kulasekharam area, located near Muthukuzhivayal Forest Range. Kulasekharam has many Rubber Plantations that yield high quality latex, which is the town?s major revenue source. Four Rubber Estates viz., Vaikundam, Ambadi, Maruthi, and Ganthimathi have been selected to study the weed flora and its ecology . A total number of 183 weed species were recorded. The dominant weed species were Achyranthesaspera, Asystasiagangetica, Clerodendroninfortunatum, Cyanodondactylon, Hyptissuaveolens, Justicia simplex, Mimosa pudica, Partheniumhysterophorus, Sidacordifolia, Solanumtorvum. Grassy weeds were uniformly distributed throughout the selected area. Sidacordifolia was found the most dominant and frequent weed species with Important Value Index (IVI) of 2.63. The calculation of biomass of the 10 dominants weed species were recorded.