Growth of white clover seedlings treated with aqueous extracts of leaf and root of tough lovegrass

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of extracts of leaf and roots of tough lovegrass (Eragrostis plana) on seedling growth of white clover (Trifolium repens), in two experiments. The first experiment was conducted as a pilot test, in which two concentrations (30 and 60%) of leaf aqueous extract were tested. In Experiment II, source (leaf/root) and concentration (5 and 10%) of the extracts were combined. Distilled water was used as control in both trials. Fifty seedlings at 7 days of age were placed in gerbox containers on filter paper moistened with extracts and incubated at 25°C for 14 days. In the first experiment, percentage of normal seedlings decreased by 82.5% and 100% at the concentrations of 30% and 60%, respectively, which indicated the need to increase the dilution of the extracts. In the subsequent experiment, the extracts from the two sources, at 10% of concentration, reduced by 78% the percentage of normal seedling and increased the percentage of abnormal seedlings, which reached 27%. At 5% concentration, the leaf extract was the most deleterious treatment, resulting in greater mortality (M=27.6%) and abnormality (A=19.5%) of seedlings, compared to the root extract (M=4.8%; A=9.5%) and the control (M=2.4%; A=0.25%). The morphological changes caused by the extracts were radicle necrosis, retention of cotyledons and absence of secondary roots. The results suggest that allelopathic compounds from leaves and roots of tough lovegrass differ in chemical nature and/or concentration.