Allelopathic Effect of Echinochloa colona L. and Cyperus iria L. Weed Extracts on the Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Rice and Soyabean

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to assess the allelopathic effect of Echinochloa colona L. and Cyperus iria L. in relation to the germination and primary growth of Oryza sativa L. (rice) and Glycine max L. (soyabean). Effects of dichloromethane (DCM) and double distilled water soluble (DDW) fractions of E. colona L. and C. iria L. root and aerial part extracts reduced germination and suppressed early seedling growth of rice and soyabean. With increase in extract concentration from 1 to 100 mg/mL, a gradual decrease in seed germination and seedling length occurred. The highest growth of G. max seedling was recorded in DDW fraction of E. colona aerial part extract at 1 mg/mL concentration with 94% germination and the lowest length was found in DCM fraction of C. iria root extract at 100 mg/mL concentration with 65% germination. In O. sativa , the highest length was noted at 1 mg/mL concentration in DDW fraction of E. colona aerial part extract with 82% germination and the lowest length was found in DCM fraction of C. iria and E. colona root extracts with germination 57% and 62%, respectively, at 100 mg/mL concentration. The results suggested that these weeds had good allelopathic potential which reduces germination and plant growth.

Full text

Research Article
Allelopathic Effect of Echinochloa colona L. and
Cyperus iria L. Weed Extracts on the Seed Germination and
Seedling Growth of Rice and Soyabean
Neha Chopra,1Geeta Tewari,2Lalit M. Tewari,1Brij Upreti,1and Naveen Pandey1
1Department of Botany, Kumaun University, D.S.B. Campus, Nainital, India
2Department of Chemistry, Kumaun University, D.S.B. Campus, Nainital, India
Correspondence should be addressed to Lalit M. Tewari; l tewari@redimail.com
Received  August ; Revised  October ; Accepted  November ; Published  January 
Academic Editor: Tibor Janda
Copyright ©  Neha Chopra et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
e present study was undertaken to assess the allelopathic eect of Echinochloa colona L. and Cyperus iria L. in relation to the
germination and primary growth of Oryza sativa L. (rice) and Glycine max L. (soyabean). Eects of dichloromethane (DCM) and
double distilled water soluble (DDW) fractions of E. colona L. and C. iria L. root and aerial part extracts reduced germination
and suppressed early seedling growth of rice and soyabean. With increase in extract concentration from  to  mg/mL, a gradual
decrease in seed germination and seedling length occurred. e highest growth of G. max seedling was recorded in DDW fraction
of E. colona aerial part extract at  mg/mL concentration with % germination and the lowest length was found in DCM fraction
of C. iria root extract at  mg/mL concentration with % germination. In O. sativa, the highest length was noted at  mg/mL
concentration in DDW fraction of E. colona aerial part extract with % germination and the lowest length was found in DCM
fraction of C. iria and E. colona root extracts with germination % and %, respectively, at mg/mL concentration. e results
suggested that these weeds had good allelopathic potential which reduces germination and plant growth.
1. Introduction
Allelopathy is the direct or indirect eect of plants with one
another through producing chemical compounds []. Allelo-
pathic compounds generally occur in natural plant com-
munities and are suggested to be one mechanism by which
weeds interfere with crop growth []. Several weed species
are reported to have allelochemicals that aect germination
and growth of crops due to toxicity []. Allelopathic eects of
weeds on rice as well as competition of weeds with rice for
water, light, physical space, and nutrient thus reduce yield,
lowering grain quality and cash value of the crop [].
According to Karim et al. [], the annual rice yield loss
due to weed infestation is about –%. Weed management
has been a challenge for the rice farmers as weed is one of
the major problems in rice production []. Annual loss of
 million metric tons of rice production due to weed com-
petition has been reported from China []. Rice grain yield
lossofabout%hasbeenobservedinuncontrolledelddue
to infestation of Fimbristylis miliacea [].
e most important oilseed crop soyabean is grown
worldwide. In soyabean, reduction of yield recorded more
than % because of variety and intensity of weed []. Soya-
bean and maize were observed to be sensitive to dierent
weed species [, ], while sorghum and sunower showed
allelopathic potential against weeds [, ].
Cyperus iria L.isoneofthethreemostcommonweedsof
rice in Sri Lanka, India, and Philippines, reported by Holm
etal.[].Itisfoundtobeahostforseveralpestsofrice
and rice nematodes: Pratylenchus zeae and Hirschmanniella
spinicaudata []. Further, Criconemella onoensis is a rice
nematode which uses C. iria as a host. Echinochloa colona
is a common weed in many crops (mainly rice, maize, and
vegetables), gardens, roadsides, disturbed sites, waste areas,
and pastures. E. colona is oen the dominant weed of rice.
Holm et al. [] have reported that E. colona is associated with
Hindawi
Advances in Agriculture
Volume 2017, Article ID 5748524, 5 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5748524

Advances in Agriculture
 crops in more than  countries and is the second most
common weed of rice. To the best our knowledge, no work
has been done on allelopathic eect of E. colona and C. iria
weed extract on rice and soyabean in Uttarakhand. erefore,
the present study was carried out to investigate the possible
allelopathic eect of C. iria and E. colona extracts on seed
germination and seedling growth of O. sativa and G. max.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Preparation of Plant Extracts. Field-grown rice (Oryza
sativa L.) and soyabean (Glycine max L.) along with weed
species Rice Flatsedge (Cyperus iria L.) and Cock Spur-Grass
(Echinochloa colona L.) were collected from the agriculture
elds of Nainital district. Plants were chopped into pieces
with a fodder cutter and oven-dried at ∘Cforhours.
e aerial and root part of weed species were crushed
into powder form. Fieen gram powdered plant material
was suspended in mL double distilled water (DDW)
and dichloromethane (DCM) and mixed for  hours by a
horizontal rotary shaker for producing uniform extract. e
extracts were ltered through lter paper (Whatman number
).
2.2. Experimental Treatments. ree dierent concentrations
of weeds, that is, , , and mg/mL, with double distilled
water (DDW) and dichloromethane (DCM) were taken to
observe allelopathic eects of weed species on test crops in
triplicates.
2.3. Experimental Procedure. e germination of rice and
soyabean seeds was studied by Petri dish method. Ten seeds
of each test crops were placed in Petri dish lined with double
layer of lter paper and treated with weed extracts in three
concentrations. ese Petri dishes were then kept for  days
and  days for soyabean and rice, respectively, at room tem-
perature (28 ± 1∘C) and kept constantly moist with distilled
water. Aer that seed germination and seedling growth were
determined for dierent treatments. Germination percentage
was calculated as
Germination (%)=Number of germinated seeds
Total number of seeds tested × 100. ()
2.4. Data Analysis. edataweresubjectedtoone-way
analysis of variance, and treatment means were compared 𝑝<
0.05 by Duncan multiple range test. Statistical analysis was
done with SPSS  for Windows statistical soware package
(SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA).
3. Results
Results with respect to the eect of dierent concentrations
of extracts on seed germination performance were measured
in terms of growth. With increase in extract concentration,
there was a gradual decrease in seedling length and ger-
mination percentage. e mean values of seed germination
and seedling growth were observed maximum in aerial part
extract as compared to root extract in test crops (Figures  and
).
Eects of DDW and DCM Fractions of E. colona L. and C. iria
L. Extracts on O. sativa L. and G. max. L. Seed Germination.
e allelopathic eect of the DDW and DCM extracts of E.
colona and C. iria on the seed germination of rice and soy-
abean was given in Figure . It was noted that the germination
was delayed by increasing the concentration. e time, at
which germination started, was recorded maximum in rice as
in comparison to soyabean. Among both weeds, rice showed
the maximum reduction in seed germination (%) when
treated with root extract of C. iria with DCM fraction.
Maximum percent germination was observed in soy-
abean seeds (%) in DDW fraction and in DCM fraction
(%) at  mg/mL concentration of E. colona aerial part
extract followed by rice seeds, that is, % with DDW fraction
and % in DCM fraction. In C.iria aerial part extract,
maximum seed germination was also observed in soyabean
seeds (% in DDW fraction and % in DCM) followed by
rice seeds (% in DDW and % in DCM). With increasing
concentration a gradual decrease in germination percentage
was recorded in the aerial and root part extracts of E. colona
and C. iria (Figure ).
Eects of DDW and DCM Fractions of E. colona and C.
iria Extracts on Seedling Length of O. sativa and G. max.
e seedling length of rice and soyabean was signicantly
(𝑝 < 0.05) reduced by aerial part of E. colona in all three
concentrations and at  mg/mL by root extracts (Figure ).
Seedling length of rice and soyabean was also signicantly
(𝑝 < 0.05) reduced by root part of C. iria at  mg/mL
concentration. In C. iria root extract, seedling growth of
soyabean at  mg/mL and rice at  mg/mL was signicantly
(𝑝 < 0.05) reduced.
Root extract of both weeds with DCM fraction had
more adverse eect on the seedling growth of rice. In DDW
fraction of both weeds, the seedling growth of soyabean
(. ±. cm) was observed to be the highest in aerial part
extract of E. colona at  mg/mL concentration and lowest
in root part extract of C. iria (.±. cm) at  mg/mL
concentration. Similarly, in DCM fraction of both weeds, the
seedling growth of soyabean (2.0 ± 0.3cm) was observed to
be the highest in aerial part extract of E. colona at  mg/mL
concentration and the lowest in root extract of C. iria (0.6 ±
0.1cm) at  mg/mL concentration.
In DDW fraction of both weeds, the seedling growth of
rice (1.9 ± 0.1cm) was observed to be the highest in aerial
part extract of E. colona at  mg/mL concentration and the
lowest in root part extract of E. colona (0.6 ± 0.1cm) at
 mg/mL concentration. Similarly, in DCM fraction of both
weeds, the seedling growth of rice (1.8± 0.1 cm) was noted to
be the highest in aerial part extract of E. colona at  mg/mL
concentration and the lowest in root part extract of E. colona
and C. iria both (0.4 ± 0.1cm) at  mg/mL concentration.
In control conditions the mean maximum seedling length
was observed in G. max (2.8 ± 0.2 cm) compared to O. sativa
(2.4 ± 0.2 cm).
e mean of rice seedling length was signicantly dier-
ent in all three concentration of E. colona aerial part extract
(DDW and DCM) and in root part extract of C. iria (DDW).
e mean of soyabean seedling length was observed to be

Advances in Agriculture 
Double distilled water
d
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E. colona C. iria C. iria
O. sativa G. max
Dichloromethane
c
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E. colona C. iria C. iria
O. sativa G. max
1
35
100
1
35
100
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Germination (%)
0
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Germination (%)
Root Aerial Root Aerial Root Aerial RootAerial
E. colona
Root Aerial Root Aerial Root Aerial RootAerial
E. colona
F : Dierence between germination percentage in DDW and DCM extract with respect to dierent concentration.
Double distilled water
b
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E. colona C. iria C. iria
O. sativa G. max
Dichloromethane
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E. colona C. iria C. iria
O. sativa G. max
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Mean length (cm)
0.0
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Mean length (cm)
Root Aerial Root Aerial Root Aerial RootAerial
E. colona
Root Aerial Root Aerial Root Aerial RootAerial
E. colona
1
35
100
1
35
100
F : Dierence between seedling lengths in double distilled water and DCM extracts with respect to dierent concentration.
signicantly dierent in all three concentrations of root and
aerial part extract of E. colona (DDW and DCM) and aerial
part of C. iria (DCM) (Figure ).
4. Discussion
Seed germination and seedling growth were more aected
by root extract with DCM fraction than the aerial part,
whereas with increase in concentration from  to  mg/mL,
there was a decrease in germination percentage and seedling
growth. Germination of both crops was aected slightly by
the lower concentration of weed extracts but at next one, the
germination and seedling length of rice and soyabean were
more aected by the highest concentration.
From the results, it appeared that the germination and
primary growth diered signicantly due to the eect of
extracts of dierent plant parts of two weed species (Figures
 and ). Primary growth of soyabean seedlings was reduced
signicantly by the allelopathic eect of dierent plant parts.
In DDW fraction, the highest mean growth of soyabean
seedling was observed in E. colona aerial part extract at
 mg/mL concentration and the mean lowest length was
found in C. iria root extract at  mg/mL concentration. In
DCM fraction of E. colona aerial part extract, the highest
mean growth of soyabean seedling was observed at  mg/mL
concentration and the mean lowest length was found in C.
iria and E. colona root extract at  mg/mL concentration.
Rice seedling in DDW fraction showed the highest mean
growth in aerial part extract at  mg/mL concentration and
the mean lowest length was found in root extract of E. colona
at  mg/mL concentration. While considering the DCM
fraction, the highest primary growth of rice was observed in
aerial part extract of E. colona at  mg/mL concentration and
the lowest length was found in the root extract of E. colona
and C. iria at  mg/mL concentration.
e results indicated that the eects of weed extracts on
the test species were concentration-dependent. Our results
agree with the ndings of some earlier studies. Swain et
al.[]pointedoutthatricerootgrowthwascompletely
inhibited with % w/v leachates of -day-old plant and that
thedecomposinganddecomposedleachatesreducedrice
shoot growth by % and %, respectively, which indicated
that lower concentrations can stimulate plant growth, while
higher concentrations cause inhibition [, ]. is can be
attributedtothefactthatlowdoseofphenoliccompounds
stimulates protein synthesis and activation of antioxidant

Advances in Agriculture
Aerial extract Aerial extract Root extract
Double distilled water Dichloromethane
O. sativ a
G. max
0
20
40
60
80
100
Seed germination (%)
C. iria
C. iria
C. iria
C. iria
E. colona
E. colona
E. colona
E. colona
Root extract
F : Eect of extracts ( mg/ml) of E. colona and C. iria on
seed germination.
enzymes [] which are eective in plant protection [],
while high levels of phenolic application result in plant
damage [].
Ashfaq et al. in  [] reported that the interaction
between C. esculentus and P. h y s t e r o p h o r u s showed a sig-
nicant eect on germination rate, plumule length, radicle
length, fresh weight, and dry weight of seeds. Awan et al.
[] suggested that the growth of C. iria can be suppressed
by high rice density ( plants/m2) even at high N rates.
V. Singh and H. Singh [] concluded that Caesulia axillaris
Roxb.wasfoundtobethemostphytotoxicweed,followedby
Echinochloa cruss galli L. Beauv and Echinochloa colonum L.
Link, while Fimbristylis miliacea L. Vahl and Cyperus iria L.
were observed moderate weeds of the rice elds.
e germination and seedling growth responses of rice
andsoyabeantorootandaerialpartextractsofE. colona and
C. iria was signicantly dierent. is uneven suitability to
both extracts could be due to inherent dierences in various
biochemicals involved in the process.
5. Conclusion
e present study revealed that the extracts of E. colona and
C. iria weed were highly eective against seed germination
and seedling growth of rice and soyabean. From the above
ndings of the present experiment it could be suggested that
E. colona and C. iria had strong and moderate detrimental
eect on rice and soyabean, respectively. Results showed that
seed germination and seedling growth were highly aected in
rice, root part, and DCM rather than soyabean, aerial part,
and DDW, respectively (Figures  and ). ere is a high
need to carry out such type of studies to test the ecacy
of these weed extracts under eld conditions. erefore,
the cited weeds must be taken into better care and should
beavoidedinseedbedforgrowingriceandsoyabean
seedlings. Furthermore, the allelochemicals responsible for
germination and growth reduction of dierent crops should
be isolated and identied.
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
Seedling growth (cm)
Aerial extract Aerial extract Root extract
Double distilled water Dichloromethane
O. sativ a
G. max
C. iria
C. iria
C. iria
C. iria
E. colona
E. colona
E. colona
E. colona
Root extract
F : Eects of extracts E. colona and C. iria on seedling growth.
Competing Interests
e authors declare no conict of interests regarding the
publication of the paper.
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