Allelotoxicity of <i>Oudneya africana</i> R. Br. aqueous leachate on germination efficiency of <i>Bromus tectorum</i> L. and <i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.

Abstract

This present study was conducted to investigate the possible allelopathic effect of Oudneya africana (donor species) on Bromus tectorum (weed species) and Triticum aestivum (cv. Sahel1; crop species) through germination bioassay experiment. B. tectorum is a winter annual grass that grows in winter wheat and other crops and in both disturbed and undisturbed grasslands. The effect of O. africana aqueous leachate (OAAL) on germination and seedling growth of B. tectorum and T. aestivum was investigated. Higher concentrations of the aqueous leachate significantly reduced the germination rate of B. tectorum. Similarly, coleoptile (CL) and radicle (RL) lengths of B. tectorum seeds was significantly inhibited. To go through with this, seedling growth of the weed species was also affected. On the other hand, the germination parameters of wheat seeds were slightly affected with applying different OAAL concentration levels compared to B. tectorum. In conclusion, allelochemicals extracted from the donor species caused a significant reduction in germination and growth parameters of B. tectorum > T. aestivum.

Keywords: Aqueous leachate, Oudneya africana, Bromus tectorum, germination rate

African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(10), pp. 1194-1197, 5 March, 2014