Comparative study of phytotoxic effect of aqueous leachates of Senna uniflora on different legumes in Maval tehsil

Weeds are the plants that grow in such areas where they are either unwanted or undesired or previously, they were not exit. These weeds invade from one geographic area to another, proliferate and spread over the area affecting native phytodiversity. Such invasive weeds show harmful impact on quality and quantity of agricultural crops. In frequent field visits to Maval tehsil it is observed that Senna uniflora one of the invasive weeds from Central America has encroaching the common and agricultural field of Maval. Therefor this study was undertaken to examine allelopathic effects of aqueous leachates of root, stem and leaves of Senna uniflora on neighbouring plants and commonly cultivated legumes like Horsegram, Lentil and Mothbean. Results of petri plate bioassay revealed that 4% and 8% lower concentrations of all leachates promoted seed germination percentage, root length, shoot length and vigour index in all test crops may be due to presence of less allelochemicals while higher concentrations 12%, 16% and 20% inhibited all these parameters may be due to more allelochemicals. Mothbean seeds showed more effect of all leachates than other crops may be because of small size of seeds while Lantana camara showed more resistant to all leachates than other neighbouring invasive species.