Allelopathic potential of actinobacteria for weed control

Abstract

In laboratory conditions 10 actinobacteria strains were screened for germination and seedling growth of maize and Johnson grass. Primary inoculum of actiobacteria were grown in starch casein broth for 7 days in a shaking incubator. Ten seeds from both species, were placed inside sterile Petri dishes and moinsted with 5ml of the culture filtrate of actinobacteria and incubated at 26°C. After the period of 7 days, the percentage of germination was calculated and coleoptile and radicle length were measured. Suspensions of all 10 actinobacteria strains had an effect on seed germination and early seedling growth of maize and Johnson grass. The A18 strain proved to be the best candidate for further testing because the inhibitions for maize were less than 35% and for Johnson grass they were higher than 90%.