Allelopathic Effect of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Parthenium hysterophorus L. on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth in Greengram, Blackgram and Groundnut

Abstract

Allelopathic effect of Parthenium hysterophorus L. was studied on seed germination and seedling growth of two pulse crops (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek and Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) and one oil seed crop (Arachis hypogea L.). The concentrations used were 20 g L -1 , 30 g L -1 and 50 g L -1 leaf extract of Parthenium hysterophorus. Seed germination of greengram was completely inhibited at 30 g L -1 leaf extract of Parthenium hysterophorus but in blackgram and ground nut, failure of seed germination was recorded only at 50 g L-1 leaf extract. The seed germination, plumule, radicle length and total biomass production were reduced with increasing concentration of aqueous solution. The study concluded that increasing concentration of leaf extract of Parthenium hysterophorus has adverse effect on germination, radicle length, plumule length and biomass production of Vigna radiata followed by Vigna mungo and Arachis hypogea than the control. The leaf extract has strong inhibitory effect on radicle growth than the plumule growth. The tolerance level of parthenium allelopathy of crops represented as Groundnut > Blackgram > Greengram.