EFFICACY OF AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF DIFFERENT ALLELOPATHIC PLANTS ON GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF WHEAT AND WILD OAT

 

HAROON KHAN¹*, ADIL¹, BAKHTIAR GUL¹, MUHAMMAD AZIM KHAN¹ AND K.B. MARWAT²

 

¹The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa -Pakistan

²SBB University Sheringal, Upper Dir, KP, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author’s e-mail: haroonkhan@aup.edu.pk

 

Abstract: To analyze the efficacy of aqueous extracts of different allelopathic plants on germination and growth of wheat and wild oat seeds, a lab experiment was conducted in the Department of Weed Science, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- Pakistan in 2013. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized (CRD) design with three repetitions. Seeds of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and wild oat (Avena fatua L.) were soaked with the exact concentration of their respective water extract (WE) for 24 hours before placing in the petri dishes for germination. Afterwards only distilled water was applied to keep the seed moist. There were eight treatments viz. sorghum WE, sunflower WE, parthenium WE, sorghum+sunflower WE, sorghum+parthenium WE, sunflower+parthenium WE, sorghum+sunflower+ parthenium WE @ 1:10 (w/v) each and a control treatment (distilled water only) for comparison. Data were recorded on germination (%), shoot length (cm), shoot weight (mg), root length (cm) and root weight (mg) at the 20^th day of the experiment. All parameters were significantly affected by the all applied treatments. The data showed that highest wheat germination (100%) was recorded in sorghum+parthenium WE and lowest germination (80%) in sorghum+sunflower+parthenium WE. Lowest wild oat germination (60%) was noticed for sunflower+parthenium WE. In conclusion, the application of sorghum+parthenium WE was the most effective and economical treatment in reducing the germination and growth of wild oat.

 

Key words: Wild oat, Wheat, Allelopathy