Allelopathic effects of Leucaena leucocephala leaf litter on some forest and agricultural crops grown in nursery

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of leaf litter of Leucaena leucocephala on two forest crops Sada koroi (Albizia procera), Ipil ipil (L. leucocephala) and three agricultural crops Falen (Vigna unguiculata), Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and Arhor (Cajanus cajan) in the nursery of the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Bangladesh, in a Randomized Block Design. Results suggested that leaf litters of L. leucocephala induced inhibitory effects on germination and growth of bioassay. It was also found that the effect depended on concentration of extract and litterfall, type of receptor species. Higher concentration of the materials had the higher effect and vice versa. Growth response of receptor crops varied with the variation of leaf litter application. The study revealed that application of low-dose leaf litter specially litter of 10 g·m⁻² had stimulating effect on shoot growth of C. arietinum, V. unguiculata and A. procera. While in all other cases significant inhibitory effect was observed and it was significantly increased with the increase of leaf litter application. However, the trend of inhibition was uneven with treatments. Root growth was found to be more affected than shoot growth.

Keywords

allelopathy / agroforestry / choice of species / inhibitory effect / leaf litters / mixed cropping / mixed plantation