Abstract:
Lantana camara and Parthenium hysterophorus are invasive weed species that have
allelopathic effects on crops. This research was designed to determine the inhibitory effect of
aqueous and hexane leaf extracts of Lantana camara L. and Parthenium hysterophorus L. on
germination and seedling growth of Sorghum bicolor, variety Fendishe. The distilled water
and hexane extracts of Lantana camara L. and Parthenium hysterophorus L. were prepared
in 5 and 10% concentration levels while distilled water was used as negative control to
evaluate seed germination and growth parameters under laboratory condition. The
experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with five replications. The
obtained data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance. Results showed that both
solvents extracts negatively affected seed germination and seedling growth (P<0.05).
Comparison between the two solvent extracts’ impact showed that distilled water extracts of
Lantana camara and Parthenium hysterophorus were superior to hexane extracts in
negatively affecting the performance of the test plant. Of the two weeds’ extracts, Lantana
camara extracts showed the highest inhibitory effects on seed germination and seedling
growth. The toxicity was generally increased with increasing extract concentrations
