ALLELOPATHIC EFFECT OF AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF TWO LOCAL CULTIVARS OF SORGHUM (SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH) "AL-SAIF AND AL- HAIQ" ON GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF THE WEED (SENNA ITALICA MILL.) UNDER GREENHOUSE CONDITIONS

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was conducted in Nasser's Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Lahej Univ., Yemen, to study the allelopathic effects of aqueous extracts from two local Sorghum cultivars (S. bicolor (L.) namely "Al-Saif and Al- Haiq" on germination and seedling growth of the weed (S. italica Mill.), which widely spread in the fields of Tubun-Delta, Lahej Gov., the experiment consisted of three concentrations: 0, 5 and 10% for each extract. The studied traits of seeds and seedlings of (Senna italica Mill.) were: germination rate, germination speed, length of root and shoot parts of the seedlings and the fresh weight of root and shoot parts of the seedling. The most important results obtained are summarized in the presence of a significant effect of the extract concentrations on all the studied characteristics. The most effective was when using the extract at a concentration of 10%, as it reduced the germination percentage, germination speed, root length, shoot length, root wet weight  and shoot wet weight compared to the control, the interaction between the cultivars and the concentrations of the extracts had a significant effect on each of: the percentage and speed of germination, the length of the root and shoot parts of the seedlings, and the wet weight of the shoot parts of the seedlings, but it had no significant effect on the wet weight of the root parts of the seedlings, the difference in cultivars did not have a significant effect on all the studied traits.