Dept. of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, UAS, Dharwad - 580 005, India.
Current Research, University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore, 30: 69–71, (2005).
A polybag study was carried out to determine the allelopathic effect of eucalyptus on some legume crops (groundnut, green gram and soyabean). Soil samples along with natural leaf fall from eucalyptus tree row site were collected from 3 m away from the tree row to 18 m distance (6 distance intervals), and 2 kg soil from each distance was put in polybags. Shoot length, root length and shoot dry weight per plant were significantly less in 3 and 6 m distance soils, while root dry weight was reduced up to 9 m distance soil, indicating more adverse effect on the root portion than on the shoot portion. Groundnut shoot length did not change over distances, while that of green gram was adversely affected up to 6 m and that of soyabean up to 3 m. Root growth of all the 3 crops was inhibited in 3 and 6 m distance soils, the greatest reduction being recorded with groundnut. Similar was the case with shoot weight.
