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Allelopathic potential of
rhizosphere soil of Croton bonplandianum on growth
and establishment of some crop and weed plants
Swapnal Sisodia* and M. Badruzzaman Siddiqui
Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-20
2002 India.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
swapnalbotany@gmail.com.
Phone: 0571 2702016, +91 9412328937.
Accepted
15 February, 2009 |
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This
experiment was carried out to study various biological and
ecological features of Croton bonplandianum Baill and
physico-chemical characteristics of its rhizosphere soil,
and determine the effect on the growth of some crop and weed
plants that is Triticum aestivum L., Brassica rapa
L., Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.
and Spinacea oleracea L., Melilotus alba Medik.,
Vicia sativa L., and Medicago hispida Gaertn.
While comparing the features of the weed between pre- and
post flowering stages, it was observed that the growth
pattern favours the fast spread and high density of the
weed. Root length, shoot length and dry weight of
seedlings of test plants decreased significantly when plants
were grown in rhizosphere soil of C. bonplandianum
Baill. The rhizosphere and control soil were analyzed
for pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, organic
matter, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and
micro-nutrients such as sodium, iron, manganese and zinc at
pre- and post flowering stage. The pH of rhizosphere soil
decreased compared to control whereas the
conductivity, organic carbon and organic matter increased.
The presence of significantly high amount of phenolics in
rhizosphere soil indicated their possible interaction with
soil chemical properties. This was also indicated by the
correlation analysis between phenolics and various
properties.
Key
words:
Allelopathy, nutrients, phenolics, soil chemistry. |
