Study on allelopathic effect of Moringa oleifera on the growth and productivity of mungbean

The co-existence of perennial plants with agricultural crops, their allelopathic compatibility may be crucial to determine the success of an agroforestry system. The objectives of the study were to examine the allelopathic effect of different concentrations of root aqueous extract on the growth and yield of BU Mung 4 in pot condition at open field. There were six treatments having different concentrations of extracts (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0, 12.5 and 15.0%) of these plant parts and one control treatment (distilled water). Growth and yield performances experiment were conducted with root extract only having four different concentrations (2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0%) and one control treatment. The experiments were conducted in completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications. Different concentrations of root extracts showed negative effect on the performance of mungbean. Shorter plant was observed when treated with 7.5 and 10.0% aqueous extracts, while number of leaves per plant decreased irrespective concentrations. Mungbean dry weight was 9, 13, 31 and 40%; number of pods per plants were 27, 30, 31 and 40%; and seed yield per plants were 23, 24, 34 and 43% lower than the control (pot treated) with 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0% root aqueous extract, respectively. Number of weed found in 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0% root extracts treated pots were 68, 72, 73 and 62% lower than control pot. Therefore, the study revealed that allelochemicals released from different plant parts of M. oleifera impeded the rate of germination in laboratory condition, and similarly root extract impeded the growth and yield of mungbean in pot condition. Similarly, M. oleifera showed sharp weed growth inhibitory/ suppression effect.