Effects of Azadirachta indica leaf extract on growth and development of Oryza sativa (L) and Zea mays (L)
Effects of Azadirachta indica leaf extract on growth and development of Oryza sativa (L) and Zea mays (L)
- Author(s) Parveen Kaur and P. Leela
- Year: 2023
- Month: November
- Volume: 60
- Pages: 147-158
We investigated the effects of Azadirachta indica Juss. agroforestry tree aqueous leaf extract on seed germination and seedling growth of Oryza sativa L. and Zea mays L. The allelopathic effects of 0 (control),10,20,30,40 and 50 % concentrations of A. indica aqueous leaf extracts were determined on germination, growth, synthesis of photosynthetic pigments and biochemical constituents (starch, protein and aminoacid) of maize and rice seedlings. These extracts had both inhibitory and stimulatory effects on O. sativa and Z. mays at different stages of plant growth and development. Seed germination decreased with increasing concentration of leaf extracts from 20 % to 50 %. At lower concentration of 0 % (control) the shoot length, vigour index, and total chlorophyll were significantly increased. The inhibitory and stimulatory activity depended on the extract concentrations, higher concentration strongly inhibited the pigments, vigour index, seedling length, starch, protein and aminoacid. We found that the A. indica extract had water-soluble allelochemicals which significantly reduced the growth of O. sativa and Z. mays.
