EFFECTS OF WEED ALLELOPATHY AGAINST MAIZE (Zea mays L.) VARIETIES

Abstract

A lab experiment was conducted at Weed Science Research Laboratory, The University of Agriculture Peshawar.  The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized having two factors.  Factor A was maize varieties including (Burhan, Jalal and Azam) while,  factor B was different weed water extracts i.e. Trianthema portulacastrum, Xanthium strumarium, Convolvulus arvensis and Distill water treatment was also included for comparison.  The results showed that nearly all weeds water extracts significantly affect all the studied parameters of maize varieties. The result revealed that T. portulacastrum showed the most toxic effect against all maize varieties as it permit only 76.66% of maize seed to germinate. While among maize varieties Azam showed high resistance toward the allelopathy of studied weed species and gave 97.50% germination. Maize variety Jalal found susceptible to the phytotoxicity of the studied weeds. As T. portulacastrum declared the most problematic weed of maize. Hence it was recommended that proper measures to be taken for the effective control of T. portulacastrum weed to secure the maximum production of maize in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.