Botany Department, Shivaji University, Kolhapur-416 004 Maharashtra, India.
National Seminar of Plant Physiology ‘Physiological Basis for Improving Productivity of Agricultural, Horticultural and Medicinal Plants’. December 27–29, 2004. University of Pune, Pune, India. Abstract No.190, (2004).
Gliricidia sepium Walp a fast growing tree (family Fabaceae) is cultivated in India its shade at the edge of banana and other crop fields. It also provides a very good green manure. The tree has deciduous nature and leaves shed in winter, hence, we studied the effect of Glyricidia leaf leachate on germination and seedling growth in crops such as rice, wheat, sorghum, pearlmillet and greengram. The leaf leachates caused inhibitory effect on seed germination in all crops. The maximum inhibition was noticed in rice and pearlmillet. Seedling growth (root length and shoe length) was inhibited due to leaf leachate in all crops. Shoot growth was found to be more sensitive to leaf leachate treatment than the root growth. Shoot length was reduced by leaf leachate in the following order rice = greengram > wheat > pearlmillet > sorghum, the reduction in root length was in the following order: wheat > pearlmillet > greengram > rice > sorghum. The allelopathic effect may be probably because the leaf leachate was rich in total polyphenols. These preliminary findings indicate that the cultivation of Glyricida very close to the agricultural fields should be avoided.
