'In vitro' study of weed allelopathy on soybean (Glycine max)

Abstract

The effects of aqueous extracts of nutgrass ('Cyperus rotundus') and Powell's amaranth ('Amaranthus powellii') on growth and chlorophyll content of soybean ('Glycine max') cv. Banjalong and Melrose grown in vitro were determined. Weed extract at concentrations of 1, 10% (v/v) and 0% was added to Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium. Adding weed extract to the media, regardless of the concentrations, significantly reduced the fresh weight of cultured soybean plantlets, but did not have any effect on the chlorophyll content of the plantlets. A 71% reduction in plant fresh weight occurred when cultivar Melrose was grown in media supplemented with 10% of amaranth extract. Regardless of the soybean cultivars, media containing 1% of amaranth or nutgrass extract resulted in a respective 27.9% and 15.7% reduction in callus fresh weight of the hypocotyl. This paper discusses the allelopathic effects of weed extract on the growth of soybean.