Allelopathic Influence of Aqueous Leaf Extracts of Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L.) on Germination, Seedling Growth and Phytomass of Groundstorey Crops

Abstract

The investigation was carried out to determine allelopathic influence of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L.) leaf aqueous extracts on four test crops viz, groundnut (Arachis hypogia), cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), wheat (Triticum aestivam) and mustard (Brassica campestris) under laboratory conditions. The seed germination of mustard was significantly inhibited by ber leaf extracts and the reduction was 77.60 per cent over control (treated with distilled water). Whereas, the germination of wheat did not influence significantly but it was reduced to some extent in case of groundnut and cluster bean. The response on vigour parameters exhibited variable trend. There was no significant difference in shoot length between treated and control plants except in case of mustard, where shoot length reduced significantly. In general, the root length of treated plants was more affected than shoot length except in cluster bean. The other vigour parameters like number of roots per plant, root: shoot ratio and vigour index also showed almost same trend. The seedling phytomass in terms of fresh and dry weight did not vary significantly in all the crops with the treatment of ber leaf extracts. Among different groundstorey crops, the water-soluble allelochemicals of ber leaf extracts had maximum inhibitory effect on mustard and minimum on cluster bean with respect to germination, seedling vigour and seedling phytomass while other crops showed variable response exhibiting sensitivity in one character and tolerance in another.