H.S. Patil

Abstract

An extensive survey of floristic of native and invasive weed species was carried out during 2016 to 2019 in the semiarid agro ecosystem of Baramati Tahsil, Dist- Pune (M.S.). About 18 dominant invasive weeds such as Ageratum, Alternanthera, Croton., Xanthium, Parthenium and Tridax were encroaching the natives, becoming a serious threat to the major crops of this area such as wheat, sorghum, pearl millet, mung bean, pigeon pea, chillies and tomato. Amongst these Croton bonplandianus was highly dominant and wide spreading. Hence, its allelopathic potential was investigated. The allelopathic influence of leaf and root leachates as well as extracts of Croton bonplandianus Bail. was examined on seed germination of mung bean (Vigna radiata L.). The germination assay revealed that allelopathic potential and other factors are responsible for its dominance and successful invasion. The allelopathic influence of rhizosphere soil and its aqueous leachates indicated that both are responsible for inhibiting the seed germination and seedling growth of mungbean. Both the experiments have clearly confirmed the allelopathic potential of Croton bonplandianus. The HPTLC analyses confirmed the existence of a broad groups of allelochemicals like terpenoides, steroids, flavonoids, pungent and bitter essential oils and phenolics in its leaves and roots, which confirmed its allelopathic potential. Further characterization of above mentioned allelochemicals is in progress. Keywords: Allelochemicals, Allelopathy, Croton bonplandianus, Ecophysiology, Invasive weeds, Seed germination bioassay, Soil leachates

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