ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Comparative Allelopathic Effects of Different Parts of Parthenium hysterophorus L. on Seed Germination and Biomasses of Cicer arietinum L.

Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) has become an invasive woody plant in recent times in many parts of the world. It is rapidly spreading in Pakistan, causing severe damage to the agriculture productivity of the country. A laboratory scale study was conducted in order to evaluate the allelopathic effect of exotic herb Parthenium on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) by morphological approaches. Experiments were carried out in petri plates supplemented with aqueous extracts of root, stem, leaves and flowers of Parthenium. Pronounced variations were noticed for allelopathic activity of different plant parts at different concentrations. Parthenium extracts either inhibited or promoted the germination of seeds and seedling growth of chickpea. Results showed that aqueous extracts of root, leaves and flowers significantly reduced the germination and seedling growth. The maximum inhibition was observed with the extract of leaves and flowers as well as the highest inhibition was observed at higher concentrations i.e. 7.5 and 10%. It is concluded that aqueous root, stem, leaf and flower extracts of Parthenium contain allelopathic compounds inhibits seed germination and seedling growth of chickpea at higher concentrations.