The diversified farming system have manifold advantages over traditional monoculture farming practices. But several bottlenecks still exist in translating this potential into reality desired to improve the production scenario in a given agro-ecological situation. Biophysical Interaction between the components needs to be assessed before recommending a particular set of components into a system. The present study is an effort to assess the Interaction effects of perennial component ber (Zizphus mauritiana) on two important annual field crops i.e., cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenumgraecum) of the hot arid ecosystem of western Rajasthan. The laboratory bioassay studies revelaed tha the aqueous leaf extracts of ber reduced the germination of both the crops but effect was more pronounced in case of fenugreek. In almost all the vigour parameters and phytomass production, the inhibitory effect was more in fenugreek as compared to cowpea except number of roots/plant which indicated the sensitivity of fenugreek to allelochemicals present in the aqueous extracts of ber leaves.
Agroforestry, allelopathy, aqueous leaf extracts, Trigonella foenumgraecum, Vigna unguiculata, Ziziphus mauritiana
