Kazchrome supports an environmental project to fight allergenic grass
A unique experiment in the fight against clotbur-leaved sump weed was begun by social activists of the Pavlodar region. According to doctors, the pollen of this plant is the strongest allergen. The financial support for the project was provided by «Kazchrome».
The initiator of the project was the “Bereginya-Bio” Public Fund. Together with students and schoolchildren environmentalists launched their investigation in Pavlodar village -Kenzhekol. This is not the only location where an insidious weed feels alleviated. Residents of the villages of Efremovka, Zarya, Michurino and many others also faced with a similar problem. The danger of sump weed in its high seed productivity — the plant produces up to 300 thousand seeds from one plant and gradually crowds out other herbs, including fodder, depleting the soil.
Expert of Public Fund «Bereginya Bio» Tatiana Ponomareva explains the emergence of the weed in Pavlodar, which, incidentally, himself a native of North America, the constant migration of people and export of various goods. Now, only one site in Kenzhekol district, more than 35 hectares of land are overgrown with sump weed.
— During the summer, we worked out a technology to reduce its numbers,- says Tatyana Ponomareva. — The area of three hectares was divided into five sections and each of them used its own method of control: hand weeding, early and late mowing, treatment with herbicides and excavation to 5 cm. As the results showed, the latest methods are the most effective. Now it is important to reduce the seed burial. Laboratory experiments have shown encouraging results.
The seat of sump weed are both in the vicinity and in the Pavlodar. This significantly increases the allergy-inducing in the adult population. Flowering begins on August 1, this strictly coincides with the onset of allergy symptoms. Studies in this area are carried out in the regional children’s hospital for three years.
— From June to October, we inquired children with allergies, says allergist Rauza Dzhekesova. — 78% of them reacted to wormwood, 58% — sump weed, 53% — to various meadow herbs. The rate is very high. Annually registered over 200 new children who suffer from pollen allergies. And these are only those who are being examined.
Pavlodar public men will continue their investigation in the next year, hoping that the issue of the destruction of the aggressive weed will receive not only the support of sponsors, but also the state.
«We know that in Pavlodar a large number of adults suffer from allergies and immediately decided to support this project, because we are sure that these investigation are very useful for our society. In case of positive results, the experience of Pavlodar public men can be adopted in other regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in which this allergenic plant is also present», comments Svetlana Mashchenko, chief ecologist of JSC «TNC «Kazchrome». — Our company supports advanced technologies and scientific developments in the field of environmental protection. We are interested in implementing important environmental projects, and they do not have to be related to our core activity. We actively cooperate with public organizations of Kazakhstan and aimed to further cooperation in several areas.