Kudzu

Kudzu has been used as a form of erosion control and to enhance the soil. As a legume, it increases the nitrogen in the soil by a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.[10] Its deep taproots also transfer valuable minerals from the subsoil to the topsoil, thereby improving the topsoil. In the deforested section of the central Amazon Basin in Brazil, it has been used for improving the soil pore-space in clay latosols, thus freeing even more water for plants than in the soil prior to deforestation.[11]

Kudzu can be used by grazing animals, as it is high in quality as a forage and palatable to livestock. It can be grazed until frost and even slightly after. Kudzu had been used in the southern United States specifically to feed goats on land that had limited resources. Kudzu hay typically has a 22-23% crude protein content and over 60% total digestible nutrient value. The quality of the leaves decreases as vine content increases relative to the leaf content. Kudzu also has low forage yields despite its rate of growth, yielding around two to four tons of dry matter per acre annually. It is also difficult to bale due to its vining growth and its slowness in shedding water. This makes it necessary to place kudzu hay under sheltered protection after being baled. Fresh kudzu is readily consumed by all types of grazing animals, but frequent grazing over three to four years can ruin even established stands. Thus, kudzu only serves well as a grazing crop on a temporary basis.[3]

Kudzu fiber has long been used for fiber art and basketry. The long runners which propagate the kudzu fields and the larger vines which cover trees make excellent weaving material. Some basketmakers use the material green. Others use it after splitting it in half, allowing it to dry and then rehydrating it using hot water. Both traditional and contemporary basketry artists use kudzu.[12]

Kudzu leaves near Canton, Georgia

Kudzu contains isoflavones, including puerarin (about 60% of the total isoflavones), daidzein, daidzin (structurally related to genistein), mirificin, and salvianolic acid, among numerous others identified.[13] In traditional Chinese medicine, where it is known as gé gēn (gegen), kudzu is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs thought to have therapeutic effects, although there is no high-quality clinical research to indicate it has any activity or therapeutic use in humans.[14][15] Adverse effects may occur if kudzu is taken by people with hormone-sensitive cancer or those taking tamoxifen, antidiabetic medications, or methotrexate.[15]

Kuzumochi (葛餅), Japanese-style kudzu starch cake (Katori City, Japan)

The roots contain starch, which has traditionally been used as a food ingredient in East and Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, the starch called bột sắn dây is flavoured with pomelo oil and then used as a drink in the summer. In Japan, the plant is known as kuzu and the starch named kuzuko. Kuzuko is used in dishes including kuzumochi, mizu manjū, and kuzuyu. It also serves as a thickener for sauces, and can substitute for cornstarch.[16]

The flowers are used to make a jelly that tastes similar to grape jelly.[17][18] Roots, flowers, and leaves of kudzu show antioxidant activity that suggests food uses.[17] Nearby bee colonies may forage on kudzu nectar during droughts as a last resort, producing a low-viscosity red or purple honey that tastes of grape jelly or bubblegum.[18]

Kudzu has also been used for centuries in East Asia to make herbal teas and tinctures.[19] Kudzu powder is used in Japan to make an herbal tea called kuzuyu. Kakkonto (Chinese and Japanese: 葛根湯; pinyin: gégēntāng; rōmaji: kakkontō; "Kudzu Root Soup") is a herbal drink with its origin in traditional Chinese medicine, intended for patients with a group of symptoms and signs including fever, headache, neck stiffness, no perspiration, and in some cases, diarrhea. It is made from a mixture containing the main ingredient, dried kudzu roots, and sliced fresh ginger, cinnamon twigs, Chinese peony, licorice, jujubes, and ephedra. Together these plants are used to create a drink containing puerarin, daidzein, paenoflorin, cinnamic acid, glycyrrhizin, ephedrine and gingerol.[20]

Kudzu fiber, known as ko-hemp,[21] is used traditionally to make clothing and paper,[22] and has also been investigated for industrial-scale use.[23][24]

It may become a valuable asset for the production of cellulosic ethanol.[25] In the Southern United States, kudzu is used to make soaps, lotions, and compost.[26]

Kudzu's environmental and ecological damage results from its outcompeting other species for a resource. Kudzu competes with native flora for light, and acts to block their access to this vital resource by growing over them and shading them with its leaves. Native plants may then die as a result.[27]

Changes in leaf litter associated with kudzu infestation results in changes to decomposition processes and a 28% reduction in stocks of soil carbon, with potential implications for processes involved in climate change.[28]

Kudzu was introduced from Japan into the United States at the Japanese pavilion in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.[19] In the 1930s and 1940s, the vine was rebranded as a way for farmers to stop soil erosion. Workers were paid $8 per acre to sow topsoil with the invasive vine. The cultivation covered over one million acres of kudzu.[29]

It is now common along roadsides and other disturbed areas[30] throughout most of the southeastern United States as far north as rural areas of Pulaski County, Illinois. Estimates of its rate of spreading differ wildly; it has been described as spreading at the rate of 150,000 acres (610 km²) annually,[31] although in 2015 the United States Forest Service estimated the rate to be only 2,500 acres per year.[32]

A small patch of kudzu was discovered in 2009 in Leamington, Ontario, the second warmest growing region of Canada after south coastal British Columbia.[33][34]

During World War II, kudzu was introduced to Vanuatu and Fiji by United States Armed Forces to serve as camouflage for equipment and has become a major weed.[35]

Kudzu is also becoming a problem in northeastern Australia, and has been seen in Switzerland and in isolated spots in Northern Italy (Lake Maggiore).[36]

In New Zealand, kudzu was declared an "unwanted organism" and was added to the Biosecurity New Zealand register in 2002.[37]

For successful long-term control of kudzu, destroying the underground system, which can be extremely large and deep, is not necessary. Only killing or removing the kudzu root crown[38] and all rooting runners is needed. The root crown is a fibrous knob of tissue that sits on top of the roots. Crowns form from multiple vine nodes that root to the ground, and range from pea- to basketball-sized.[38] The older the crowns, the deeper they tend to be found in the ground. Nodes and crowns are the source of all kudzu vines, and roots cannot produce vines. If any portion of a root crown remains after attempted removal, the kudzu plant may grow back.

Mechanical methods of control involve cutting off crowns from roots, usually just below ground level. This immediately kills the plant. Cutting off the above-ground vines is not sufficient for an immediate kill. Destroying all removed crown material is necessary. Buried crowns can regenerate into healthy kudzu. Transporting crowns in soil removed from a kudzu infestation is one common way that kudzu unexpectedly spreads and shows up in new locations.

Close mowing every week, regular heavy grazing for many successive years, or repeated cultivation may be effective, as this serves to deplete root reserves.[38] If done in the spring, cutting off vines must be repeated. Regrowth appears to exhaust the plant's stored carbohydrate reserves. Cut kudzu can be fed to livestock, burned, or composted.

In the United States, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee undertook a trial program in 2010 using goats and llamas to graze on the plant. Similar efforts to reduce widespread nuisance kudzu growth have also been undertaken in the cities of Winston-Salem, North Carolina[39] and Tallahassee, Florida.[40]

Prescribed burning is also used on old extensive infestations to remove vegetative cover and promote seed germination for removal or treatment. While fire is not an effective way to kill kudzu,[38] equipment, such as a skid loader, can later remove crowns and thereby kill kudzu with minimal disturbance of soil.[38][41]

A systemic herbicide, for example, glyphosate,[42] triclopyr,[42] or picloram,[43] can be applied directly on cut stems, which is an effective means of transporting the herbicide into the kudzu's extensive root system.[44] Herbicides can be used after other methods of control, such as mowing, grazing, or burning, which can allow for an easier application of the chemical to the weakened plants.[45] In large-scale forestry infestations, soil-active herbicides have been shown to be highly effective.[44]

After initial herbicidal treatment, follow-up treatments and monitoring are usually necessary, depending on how long the kudzu has been growing in the area. Up to 10 years of supervision may be needed after the initial chemical placement to make sure the plant does not return.[46]

Since 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has experimented with using the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria as a biologically based herbicide against kudzu.[31] A diacetylverrucarol spray based on M. verrucaria works under a variety of conditions (including the absence of dew), causes minimal injury to many of the other woody plants in kudzu-infested habitats, and takes effect quickly enough that kudzu treated with it in the morning starts showing evidence of damage by midafternoon.[31] Initial formulations of the herbicide produced toxic levels of other trichothecenes as byproducts, though the ARS discovered growing M. verrucaria in a fermenter on a liquid diet (instead of a solid) limited or eliminated the problem.[31]