Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016) xxx, xxxxxx

King Saud University

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FULL LENGTH ARTICLE

Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera

(Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity
of Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Aasifa Gulzar *, M.B. Siddiqui

Department of Botany, A.M.U, Aligarh, U.P. 202002, India

Received 5 February 2014; accepted 10 December 2015

KEYWORDS Abstract The present study intended to investigate the effect of aqueous extract from Calotropis
Seedling length; procera on the growth of Brassica oleracea var botrytis. Seeds of brassica were soaked in solutions
Dry biomass; containing 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% concentrations of leaf, fruit and flower extract of C. procera.
Relative water content; For control, distilled water was used. The effects of extracts on germination percentage, seedling
Chlorophyll content; growth, dry biomass, and relative water content were investigated. Higher concentrations of extract
Superoxide dismutase (60% and 80%) significantly reduced germination percentage, radicle length, plumule length, dry
(SOD); matter accumulation, and relative water content of the brassica seedlings as compared to control.
Peroxidase (POD) and The retardatory effect increases with the increase in the concentration of three types of extract used,
catalase (CAT) activity with more pronounced effect noticed by leaf extract followed by fruit and flower extract. There were
significant interactions among the different concentrations of extracts used, etype of extract with
respect to gemination percentage, seedling length, dry biomass, and relative water content. The effect
of pot based assay in relation to chlorophyll content was significantly reduced and antioxidant
enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities] show both
significant and non-significant effect on antioxidant enzymes based on concentrations of extract and
extract type used. The antioxidant enzymes show the significant decrease in its activity at low con-
centrations (20% and 40%) and non-significant increase at higher concentration (60% and 80%)
of extracts in contrast to control. Based on the investigation, it could be speculated that the delayed
germination and low germination rate of the test species after treatment by extracts could be due to
the fact that extracts damaged the membrane system of the seeds and C. procera might release phe-
nolics into the soil and these are probably involved in the growth inhibitory effect of test species.
2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author at: Research scholar, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Tel.: +91 9760931189.
E-mail addresses: aasifa4gulzar@gmail.com, aasifa.gulzar@rediffmail.com (A. Gulzar).
Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University.

Production and hosting by Elsevier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
1658-077X 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Gulzar, A., Siddiqui, M.B. Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity of Brassica
oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
2 A. Gulzar, M.B. Siddiqui
1. Introduction
Allelopathy is fascinating and perplexing subject that concern
with the interaction of plants as influenced by the chemical
substances that they release into the environment (Bais et al.,
2003; Machado, 2007; Willis, 2004). Allelochemicals from
plants are released into the environment by exudation from
roots, leaching from stems and leaves or decomposition of
plant material (Rice, 1984; Inderjit et al., 2006). The multiple
effects resulting from allelochemicals include effect on cell divi-
sion, production of plant hormones, membrane permeability,
germination of pollen grains, mineral uptake, movement of
stomata, pigment synthesis, photosynthesis, respiration, pro-
tein synthesis, nitrogen fixation, and specific enzyme activities
(El-Khatib et al., 2004; Rafael et al., 2005; Jamali et al., 2006;
Hegazy et al., 2007; Farrag, 2007; Zeng et al., 2008; Inderjit
et al., 2008; Pisula and Meiners, 2010; Kim and Lee, 2011;
Djurdjevic et al., 2012; Mansour, 2013). Allelopathic potential
of many crop plant and weeds have been investigated against
different crops (Kato-Noguchi and Tanaka, 2006; Farooq
et al., 2008; Jabran et al., 2010; Gulzar and Siddiqui, 2014).
These plants release different types of water soluble phytotox-
ins in their surrounding environment and in soil thereby
inhibiting the germination and growth of different crops
(Kadioglue et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2005; Batish et al.,
2007). These allelochemicals can be used as potential source
for natural herbicides, pharmaceuticals and biological control
agents (Hirai, 2003; Cheema et al., 2004; Norton et al., 2008;
Jabran et al., 2008; Razzaq et al., 2012; Macias et al., 2007).
To defend with stress conditions, Plants are equipped with
several ROS scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase
(SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and gua-
iacol peroxidase (POX) which are activated to buttress plant
strength against abiotic and biotic stresses. Reactive oxygen
species are produced in huge amounts in plants upon exposure
to stressful conditions such as sub-optimal temperature, high
light, salt, and pathogen infection (Yamamoto et al., 2003;
Halliwell, 2006). Enhanced activity of ROS-scavenging
enzymes along with increased degree of membrane lipid perox-
idation by allelochemical stress has been studied by several
authors (Baziramakenga et al., 1995; Yu et al., 2003;
Lara-Nunez et al., 2006; Ye et al., 2004, 2006).
Calotropis procera, known as apple of Sodom or mudar, is
a member of family Asclepiadaceae (Parihar et al., 2011). The
milky sap of this plant is known to contain three toxic glyco-
sides: (i) calotropin, (ii) uscharin, and (iii) calotoxin as well
as steroidal heart poisons, known as cardiac aglycones (Zeng
et al., 2008). The plant also received much attention from
researchers due to its allelopathic behavior and has extensively
been used for the control of many plants. A number of sec-
ondary metabolites have been isolated from this plant that
include many flavonoids (Heneidak et al., 2006; Srivastava
et al., 2012), cardiac glycosides (Hanna et al., 2002), triterpenes
(Bhutani et al., 1992) and sterols (Chundattu et al., in press)
that might contribute its allelopathic potential. However, pre-
vious studies investigated regarding its phytotoxic and allelo-
pathic effects of this plant in various crops have been carried
out by (Kayode, 2004; Samreen et al., 2009; Yasin et al.,
2012; Gulzar et al., 2014a; 2015). Its widespread and persistent
occurrence near barley, oat, rice, sorghum, maize, cotton, sug-
arcane fields and especially around wheat crop fields makes it
Please cite this article in press as: Gulzar, A., Siddiqui, M.B. Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity of Brassica
oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
suspicious to cause some adverse effect on these crops through
allelopathic interaction (Yasin et al., 2012). Therefore there is
always a threat that it may become a major weed of our crop-
ping system. Keeping in view these facts, a study was planned
to evaluate the phytotoxic effect of C. procera on germination,
seedling growth, dry biomass, total chlorophyll content
and antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT activity) of
B. oleracea.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Preparation of aqueous extract
Insect-free, disease-free plants of C. procera were collected
from the campus of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
(27, 2928, 100 N.L and 77, 2978, 38 E.L) where it was
growing abundantly. They were washed thoroughly with dis-
tilled water and air-dried at room temperature for 96 h. The
leaf, fruit and flower portions were separated, chopped into
1-cm long pieces, and were kept in the oven at 28C for
72 h. The dried sample was then crushed in a mortar and pestle
to make powder. Powdered materials of each part (8g) were
added into 100 ml distilled water (1:8 w/v) and kept in shaker
for 1hour. After shaking for an hour, extracts were placed at
room temperature for 48 hours following the method of
Wardle et al. (1992). The extracts were then filtered with mus-
lin cloth followed by Whatman filter paper No. 1. This served
as the stock solution from which other concentrations (20%,
40%, and 60%) were prepared by way of dilution.
2.2. Determination of germination percentage, root length, shoot
length, dry biomass and relative water content (RWC)
The seed of B. oleracea was procured from IARI, New Delhi.
These were surface sterilized with 95% ethanol and 10% chlo-
rax for 5 min and thoroughly washed with sterile water several
times. Next, five sets of autoclaved petri dishes were prepared,
each containing a single layer of Whatman No. 1 filter paper
and 5 ml of test extract for each concentration (20%, 40%,
60%, and 80%) of leaf, fruit, and flower. The petri dishes
treated with distilled water were taken as a control. In each
prepared petri dish, ten surface sterilised brassica seeds were
placed. A total of four replications of the sets with the
previously described concentrations were kept undisturbed at
room temperature (24 2C) in the laboratory for seven
days. The number of germinating seeds was recorded on the
sixth day, whereas root length, shoot lengths, dry biomass
and RWC of the brassica seedlings were determined after
fifteen days. The emergence of a radical approximately 1 mm
in diameter was taken as the index of germination. The dry
biomass was determined after oven drying at 80 C for
24 hours. Using the equation of Deef and Abd El-Fattah
(2008), the relative water content (RWC) was evaluated as:
RWC% = (FW DW)/FW  100.
2.3. Determination of chlorophyll and antioxidant enzymes
To observe the direct effect of allelochemicals on crop in the
field, 20-cm pots were filled with 300g of soil collected from
brassica-growing fields. Ten surface-sterilised brassica seeds
Allelopathic effect of Calotropis procera 3

were sown approximately 5 mm deep in each pot. The pots 110 Flower extract
Fruit extract
were divided into two sets. Set first, received a daily dose of Leaf extract
100
50 ml of extract of leaf, fruit and flower of various concentra-
tions (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%). The control set was treated
90

Germination percentage
with distilled water. All of the pots were kept in bright sunlight
and three replications were conducted for each treatment. 80
After twenty days, the seedlings were uprooted from each
pot, keeping the root system intact. They were washed under 70
slow-flowing tap water until the adhering soil particles were
removed and then soaked between paper towels. Samples were 60
freeze dried for physiological and antioxidant analysis.
50

2.4. Assays for activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD)

40
Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
SOD activity was determined by photochemical method as Treatment (%)
described by Giannopolitis and Ries, 1977; Gulzar and
Siddiqui, 2015. Figure 1 The effects of increasing concentrations of different
organ extracts of C. procera on the germination percentage of
2.5. Assay for peroxidase activity (POD) brassica. The bars indicate standard deviation.

POD activity was determined by the method of Vetter et al.

26
(1958) as modified by Gorin and Heidema (1976); Gulzar Flower extract
and Siddiqui, 2015. Fruit extract
24 Leaf extract

2.6. Assays for catalase activity (CAT) 22

20
Plumule length (cm)

Catalase activity (CAT) was measured according to Cakmak

18
and Marschner, 1992; Gulzar and Siddiqui, 2015.
16
2.7. Determination of chlorophyll content
14

Total Chlorophyll contents of fresh leaves of brassica were 12

determined by the method of Arnon (1949).
10

2.8. Statistical analysis 8

All experiments were performed in a completely randomized
manner. The data of germination percentage, seedling growth,
dry biomass and relative water content were performed
with SPSS/PC software ver. 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Illinois). In
Figs. 16, showing change in these parameters, the bars
represent the standard deviation of measurements. The data
of antioxidant enzymes were analyzed by one-way analysis of
variance, the treatment means separated from the control
at p < 0.05 and comparisons were made using Duncan, s
multiple range test (Ducan, 1955).
3. Results
Aqueous extract from all parts significantly reduced the germi-
nation percentage, root length, shoot length, dry biomass, rel-
ative water content and chlorophyll content of brassica
seedlings. The reduction in germination percentage varies with
the type of extract and with the increasing concentration. At
80% concentration of leaf extract, it was reduced by (52%),
and at same concentration of fruit and flower extract, it was
reduced by (46%) and (32%) (Fig. 1). The reduced significant
trend in root and shoot length of brassica seedling occurs more
at 80% followed by 60%, 40% and 20%. The percentage
reduction in shoot length and root length observed at 80%
Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
Treatment (%)
Figure 2 The effects of increasing concentrations of different
organ extracts of C. procera on the plumule length of brassica. The
bars indicate standard deviation.
and 20% of leaf extract was (41.55%), (13.36%), (27.08%),
(8.57%) (Figs. 2 and 3). The dry biomass reduction signifi-
cantly noticed more at 80% of all extract types, but the
retardatory effect varies with extract type, more in leaf extract
reduced by (40%) followed by fruit extract and flower extract
(Fig. 4). Present investigation showed that RWC decreased sig-
nificantly in brassica seedlings in response to the application of
three types of extract. Maximum significant decrease in RWC
was recorded with leaf aqueous extracts at higher concentra-
tion (80%) (Fig. 5). During present investigation, there was
found that three types of extracts significantly decreased the
amount of chlorophyll content. Maximum significant decrease
in chlorophyll content was found with leaf extract at 80% as
compared to control (Fig. 6). The result of the present work
indicated that peroxidase activity decreased in brassica receiv-
ing leaf, fruit and flower extracts. Maximum significant
decrease in activity of POD was found with lower aqueous
extract (20% and 40%) of leaf extract. However, higher con-
centration of leaf extract (60% and 80%) non-significantly

Please cite this article in press as: Gulzar, A., Siddiqui, M.B. Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity of Brassica
oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
4 A. Gulzar, M.B. Siddiqui

10 Flower extract 4.0

Flower extract
Fruit extract Fruit extract
Leaf extract 3.5 Leaf extract
9

Chlorophyll content (mg/g leaf tissue)

3.0
Radicle length (cm)

2.5

7
2.0

6 1.5

1.0
5
Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
Treatment (%) 0.5
Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
Figure 3 The effects of increasing concentrations of different Treatment (%)
organ extracts of C. procera on the radicle length of brassica. The
bars indicate standard deviation. Figure 5 The effects of increasing concentrations of different
organ extracts of C. procera on the chlorophyll content of
brassica. The bars indicate standard deviation.

0.32 Fruit extract

Flower extract 66
Leaf extract Flower extract
0.30
64 Fruit extract
Leaf extract
0.28 62
Dry weight (mg/plant)

0.26 60

58
0.24
RWC (%)

56
0.22
54

0.20
52

0.18 50

0.16 48
Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
46
Treatment (%) Control 20% 40% 60% 80%
Treatment (%)
Figure 4 The effects of increasing concentrations of different
organ extracts of C. procera on the dry biomass of brassica. The Figure 6 The effects of increasing concentrations of different
bars indicate standard deviation. organ extracts of C. procera on the relative water content of
brassica. The bars indicate standard deviation.

increased the accumulation of peroxidase (Table 1). Same 4. Discussion

trend also observed with fruit and flower extract. Maximum
non-significant increase in catalase activity (CAT) was
recorded in brassica leaves receiving higher concentration of
leaf extract (80% and 40%) in comparison with untreated con-
trol. Maximum significant decrease in CAT was recorded with
lower aqueous extract (20%) of leaf extract as compared with
untreated control (Table 1) The application of leaf, fruit and
flower aqueous extracts non-significantly increased the level
of super oxide dismutase activity at higher concentration
(60% and 80%) and significantly decreased the level of SOD
activity at lower concentration (20% and 40%) in contrast
to control (Table 1).
Aqueous extracts of various concentrations of leaf, fruit, and
flower of C. procera had varying degrees of inhibition on the
germination and growth of mustard seeds, reflecting the allelo-
pathic potential of the plant. Higher inhibition was observed
with leaf extract at higher concentration. Lowering germina-
tion rate as a result of allelochemical stress may be due to inhi-
bition of water uptake (Tawaha and Turk, 2003) and
alteration in the activity of gibberellic acid (Olofsdotter,
1998) which is known to regulate de novo amylase production
during germination process (Chandler et al., 1984). However,
Singh et al. (2009) observed a stimulation of amylase activity

Please cite this article in press as: Gulzar, A., Siddiqui, M.B. Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity of Brassica
oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
Allelopathic effect of Calotropis procera
Table 1 Allelopathic impact of different concentrations of different parts of C. procera on antioxidant activity of brassica. Each value
is a mean of four replicates with standard error.
Extract type Treatment (%) Superoxide dismutase (SOD)
(units/g F.W)
Leaf extract Control 34 2.5ab
20% 32 1.4bd
40% 30 3.9c
60% 42 3.2ae
80% 44 2.7ag
Fruit extract Control 34 3.2ab
20% 30 5.2c
40% 29 3.8d
60% 38 3.8de
80% 40 6.6f
Flower extract Control 34 0.3gh
20% 28 4.4a
40% 27 2.3bc
60% 36 9.8ab
80% 40 4.4ad
Values followed by the same letters within each column are not significantly different at 0.05 (ANOVA and Duncans multiple range test).
in maize seedlings by lower leachate concentration of
Nicotiana, which possible might be due to increased level of
GA. Cell division and elongation, which are growth
prerequisite, are known to be inhibited by allelochemical.
The inhibition of seed germination was found to be
concentration-dependent (Oudhia, 1999). Kordali et al.
(2006) reported that essential oils of Achillea biebersteinii had
inhibitory effects on seed germination and seedling growth of
Amaranthus retroflexus, crisium arvense and Lactuca serriola.
Root growth is highly susceptible to the presence of allelo-
chemicals in the rhizosphere (Baziramakenga et al., 1995)
due to the fact that root tissues are more permeable to allelo-
chemicals that do shoot tissues Nishida et al. (2005) which
therefore may impair root metabolic activities and cell division
in root tips. Dry weight reduction may be due to phytotoxic
effect of proteases present in C. procera extract (Singh et al.,
2010). These results are corroborated by the work of
Sanginga and Swift (1992) and Khan et al. (1999) who
reported reduction in Z. mays shoot dry biomass by eucalyptus
extracts. Similar findings have been communicated by Ahn
et al. (2005) who demonstrated the inhibition in dry biomass,
leaf area, plant height due to allelopathic potential of rice
germplasm for control of E. crusgalli. The results of study
applied by Benyas et al. (2010) indicated that water extract
of Xanthium strumarium L. in concentrations of 0%, 1%,
1.5% and 2% shows no considerable effect on the germination
rate, rootlet length, dry weight of stemlet and rootlet and the
gradient of the lentil chlorophyll but in the higher concentra-
tions negative effects have been observed which are in compli-
ance with the results of this study. All concentrations of leaf
extract affected RWC of brassica seedlings more than the
extracts taken from fruit and flower which is consistent with
Yang et al. (2004) and Gulzar et al. (2014b) that depict that
macro- and micronutrient absorption and IAA oxidase in
plant root cells is inhibited by various allelochemicals which
may lead to the observed reductions in DW, FW, and RWC.
In the present result there occurs the significant reduction of
chlorophyll content seen with all concentrations. Reduction
Please cite this article in press as: Gulzar, A., Siddiqui, M.B. Allelopathic eect of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. on growth and antioxidant activity of Brassica
oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
5
Peroxidase (POD) content Catalase (CAT) content
(units/min) (units/min)
0.8 0.11abc 14.5 0.89bcd
0.6 0.06bc 12.4 0.72e
0.4 0.34d 10.5 0.87f
0.12 0.20a 15.2 0.59a
0.14 0.35e 16.0 0.78bd
0.8 0.11a 14.5 0.97ae
0.7 0.58a 14.5 1.30bc
0.5 0.32bd 11.2 2.80ba
0.10 0.15de 17.2 0.28abc
0.11 0.26gh 19.8 0.21dc
0.8 0.10 h 14.5 0.74ed
0.5 0.47 cc 0.9 1.08 fg
0.2 0.48efg 0.7 1.44ab
0.13 0.17adc 13.5 1.11b
0.10 0.12de 11.6 0.95 cd
in Chlorophyll content was previously reported as a result of
allelochemical stress (Singh et al., 2009; Ervin and Wetzel,
2000; Moradshahi et al., 2003; Gulzar and Siddiqui, 2014)
which could be attributed to the inhibition of chlorophyll
biosynthesis (inhibition of supply orientation) and/or the stim-
ulation of chlorophyll degradation (stimulation of consump-
tion orientation) (Yang et al., 2004, 2002). Siddiqui (2007)
reported reduction in chlorophyll content of Vigna mungo
due to the allelochemicals present in leachate of black pepper
which possibly target enzymes responsible for the conversion
of porphyrin precursors. In this comparative study, though
all three organs showed significant allelopathic potential, the
degree of inhibition seemed to be highest in the case of the leaf
extract of C. procera.
During current investigation, the level of antioxidant
enzymes either increased or decreased by the application of
leaf, fruit and flower extracts. The observed negative impact
on the above mentioned parameters is due to the presence
of large amounts of phenolics in the plant which follows
the trend Leaves > Fruit > Flower. The presence of pheno-
lics and flavonoids has been investigated by (Srivastava
et al., 2012). Many plants are reported to increase the level
of antioxidant enzymes in response to environmental stresses
because both biotic and abiotic stresses are responsible for
the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Dat et al.,
2000). The increase in antioxidant activity in response to dif-
ferent stresses has been reported previously by Bor et al.
(2003). Incensement in SOD activity in our results is same
as reported by Gomez et al. (2004) who found an increase
in all SOD enzymes of pea chloroplast following a long term
of Nacl treatments. According to Koca et al. (2007) salinity
leads to decrease in SOD activity in salt sensitive plants of
Sesame indicum L. than salt tolerant ones (Akbar et al.,
2009). SOD scavenges the highly reactive free radicals by
converting them into H2O2. Although H2O2 is equally toxic,
H2O2 is further reduced to H2O by CAT in the peroxisomes,
by APX in the chloroplast and cytosol, and by GPX in the
cell wall (Blokhina et al., 2003). The induction of peroxidase
6 A. Gulzar, M.B. Siddiqui
(POD) activity in plants occurs in response to many biotic
and abiotic stresses (Casal et al., 1994). Peroxidase (POD)
is believed to play an important role in auxin catabolism,
the oxidation of phenolics to form lignin, the cross-linking
of hydroxyl proline-rich glycol proteins in plant cell walls,
and the production and breakdown of hydrogen peroxide
and other reactive oxygen species (Klotz and Lagrimini,
1996). The roles that POD can play in cell wall toughening
and in the production of toxic secondary metabolites and
its simultaneous oxidant and anti-oxidant capabilities can
make it an important factor in the integrated defense
response of plants to variety of stresses (Felton et al.,
1989). An increase in Catalase activity has been reported in
other studies on allelochemicals mode of action, that is, fer-
ulic acid increased Catalase activity in maize seedlings
(Devi and Prasad, 1996) and benzoic acid in cucumber cotyle-
dons (Maffi et al., 1999).Although evidence about
allelochemical-induced oxidative stress together with
increased activity of antioxidant enzymes is emerging
(Politycka, 1996; Rafael et al., 2005; Baziramakenga et al.,
1995; Yu et al., 2002; Ye et al., 2006) however, little informa-
tion is available about the mechanisms by which allelochem-
icals induce ROS formation. Many studies have shown that
increased plasma membrane NAD(P)H oxidase activity was
associated with increased O2 and H2O2 production following
biotic and abiotic stresses (Keller et al., 1998; Forman et al.,
2002; Lara-Nunez et al., 2006). From our results it can be
inferred that extracts posses some allelochemicals which
might have significantly and non-significantly increased and
decreased the antioxidant enzyme activity in brassica.
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, the extract of the weed C. procera inhibited the
germination and seedling growth of brassica due to its phyto-
toxic effects. Hence, if present in field, this weed can disturb
the stand establishment of brassica plant. There is a need to
take a serious notice of the presence of this weed in the crop
fields and nearby places. Further research can explore the alle-
lochemicals present in C. procera as well as the complex allelo-
pathic mechanisms through which this phytotoxic plant
disturbs the neighboring plants.
Acknowledgment
We are thankful to the University Grants Commission, New
Delhi, for providing the financial assistance to carry out this
research study.
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oleracea var. botrytis. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2015.12.003
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