Screening of 196 medicinal plant species leaf litter for allelopathic potential

摘要

The taxonomic richness of medicinal plants in Pakistan can foster reasonable economic contributions through medicinal, industrial and environmental applications. The current study aims to explore allelopathic effect of medicinal plants on the germination and seedling growth of lettuce using sandwich method. In total 196 plant species had been tested using sandwich method to assess allelopathic effect of leaves leachates of different plants on Lactuca sativa L. (lettuce) seeds. The results of this study identified 4 plants having strong inhibitory effect, 14 plants with medium inhibitory and 13 plants of low inhibitory effect on the lettuce seeds. Boerhavia procumbens exhibited the strongest inhibitory allelopathic effect and Viburnum grandiflorum showed strong stimulatory effect on the growth of lettuce seeds. The diversified allelopathic effects of plants have the potential to improve weed management, sustainable agriculture, food production as well as medicinal, industrial and environmental applications.