Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram-796009, India
The effects of different concentration of aqueous leaf extract of Areca catechu L., on the germination, shoot length and root length of 5 food crops viz. Capsicum annum L. (Chilli), Glycine max (L.) Merr. (Soybean), Zea mays L. (Maize), Oryza sativa L. (Rice), and Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench (Lady's finger) were investigated. Mature fresh leaves of the trees were crushed and soaked for 24h. The filtrates were diluted to make different concentration. The leaf extract solution of A. catechu caused significant inhibitory effects on germination, shoot length and root length of the test crops. Inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentration of the leaf extract solution and higher concentration (80–100%) had the stronger inhibitory effect on the test crops while in some cases lower concentration (20%) showed stimulatory effect.
Concentration, Germination, Inhibition, Root length, Shoot length, Stimulation
