Germination and Early Seedling Growth of Two Rice Varieties as Affected by Invasive Ageratina adenophora

Kiran Bargali,S.S. Bargali,Bhawana Negi,Kavita Khatri

doi:10.12944/carj.8.2.06

Abstract

Ageratina adenophora is a perennial herb of family Asteraceae expanding as a serious threat to ecological integrity and biodiversity. This study aims to assess the allelopathic potential of fresh and dry leaf and root aqueous extracts of this invasive species on germination, early seedling growth, seedling biomass and seed vigor of two rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties namely 6444 and 2245. The result revealed that with increasing concentration of extract, inhibition effect also increases. Leaf extract was more inhibitory than root extract and dry plant extracts had higher allelopathic impact in comparison to fresh plant extracts. Among the two investigated rice varieties 6444 was more resistant to the fresh and dry leaf extract while 2245 was more resistant to fresh and dry root extract. This study will be helpful in assessing the effect caused by A. adenophora to rice crop and could be used in devising weed control strategy.

Highlights

The word allelopathy is derived from Greek word ‘allelo’ and ‘pathy’ which means mutual harm/ suffering.[1,2] Allelopathy is an intricate phenomenon in which plant releases its secondary metabolites into the surrounding which alter the germination and life processes of plants present in its vicinity.[3]
The present study showed the suppressive effect of A. adenophora on the germination, fresh weight, dry weight, relative water content, hypocotyl length, radicle length, total seedling length and seed vigor index of rice var. 6444 and 2245
This study demonstrated the suppressive effect of leaf and root aqueous extracts of A. adenophora on the seed germination, growth of seedling, seedling dry mass and seedling vigor index of rice varieties 6444 and 2245

Summary

Introduction

The word allelopathy is derived from Greek word ‘allelo’ and ‘pathy’ which means mutual harm/ suffering.[1,2] Allelopathy is an intricate phenomenon in which plant releases its secondary metabolites into the surrounding which alter the germination and life processes of plants present in its vicinity.[3] Secondary metabolites are the phytochemicals produced by the plant for its defense (either biotic or abiotic) and communication purposes such as to attract pollinators and are not used in their growth and development. Some of the invasive species releases these phytochemicals into the surrounding which alters the growth of surrounding community. This helps the former to establish itself via suppressing the other species.[4]. Syn. Ageratina adenophora (Spreng.) King and Robinson, known as crofton weed (Asteraceae) is an invasive

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