Allelopathic Effect of Four Wild Species on Germination and Seedling Growth of Echinocloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv

Allelopathy is biological method of weed control, lead to reduced labour costs and increased efficiency without any adverse effects on the environment. The present investigation was designed to determine the allelopathic effects of extracts from four different wild plants (Cakile maritima, Calligonum polygonoides, Senecio glaucus and Zygophyllum album) on germination and seedling growth of Echinochloa crus-galli. Calligonum polygonoides and Zygophyllum album expressed high contents of saponins (17.33 and 18.47 mg/g dry weight, respectively) and phenolic (8.14 and 12.94 mg/g dry weight, respectively). All extracts significantly reduced the germination of Echinochloa crus-galli (P ? 0.05) after 4 days of treatment. The extract of Calligonum polygonoides was the most potent as it inhibited root growth by about 99.12% at 75 g/L and 98.10% at 50 g/L. Also, all extracts of the tested wild plants significantly reduced the shoot growth of Echinochloa crus-galli in concentration-dependent manner. The phytochemical analysis revealed that Senecio glaucus attained high contents of phenolics (23.52mg/g dry weight), tannins (17.61mg/g dry weight), flavonoids (11.51 mg/g dry weight) and alkaloids (8.09 mg/g dry weight).