Gliricidia was better than leucaena in reducing speargrass density and
biomass but an ideal management system should combine the use of hedgerows
with legume cover crops to maximize pressure on speargrass. Since
bush burning is a natural phenomenon in speargrass ecologies, control
systems should include hedgerow species that can regrow readily after bush
fire. Increase in rhizome biomass of speargrass growing in open habitats
indicated that production of rhizome by speargrass is a powerful mechanism
for survival, persistence and spread. This seems to ensure its continued
existence in disturbed tropical ecologies. Fallow periods should therefore aim
at reducing speargrass density rather than at its eradication.