Awadallah Belal Dafaalla* (1) and Salwa Gadkareem Osman(1)
(1). Crop Protection Department, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Gezira, Sudan.
(*Corresponding author. Dr. Awadallah Belal Dafaallah. E-mail: awadna@hotmail.com; awadna@uofg.edu.sd)
Received: 22/01/2019 Accepted: 24/03/2019
Abstract
Laboratory and greenhouse experiments were conducted at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Gezira, Sudan in 2014/15 season to study the allelopathic effect of aqueous extract and powder of sodom apple (Calotropis procera L.) leaves on seed germination and seedling growth of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench), millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.), maize (Zea mays L.) and wheat (Triticum vulgare L.). Treatments were arranged in completely randomized design with four replicates. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (P £ 0.05) and means were separated using LSD test. The results showed that the leaves aqueous extract of sodom apple significantly reduced seed germination and there was direct relationship between concentration and reduction in germination. Also, the results showed that incorporating the leaves powder into the soil at the rate of 1 – 5%, significantly, reduced plant height, number of leaves, and root length of crop seedlings as well as plant fresh and dry weight. In addition, the reduction in seedling growth was increased as the leaves powder increased in the soil. This study confirmed that the sodom apple had allelopathic effects on seed germination and seedling growth of the poaceous crops. Therefore, isolation and identification of allelochemical compounds from this plant could provide means to minimize their negative effects over the cultivated plants and potentially could provide structural models for the development of bio-herbicides.
Keywords: Allelopathic; Calotropis; Sorghum; Millet; Maize; Wheat.
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