Allelopathic Potential of Papaver Somniferum L. on Seed Germination Against Three Different Varities of Zea Mays

To evaluate the allelopathic effect of Papaver somniferum against the 3 varieties of Zea mays seeds cv. Azam, Pahari and Iqbal. Methods Aqueous extracts were made by soaking the powder of dried leaves of Papaver somniferum. For the aqueous extract treatment, the extract was soaked in distilled water for 24 and 48 hours separately. For mulching treatment, the seeds were sowed in soil and sprinkled powder of leaves. For litter, the petri dishes were grounded with randomly cut pieces of lter paper wetted with extract. For hot water treatment the water was boiled for 5 minutes. The powder was then mixed in boil water.


Introduction
Allelopathy is the favorable or unfavorable effects of a plant on another plant due to the release of biochemicals, which are known as allelochemicals. This could be from plant parts by extracts, root, evaporation, disintegration of litter, and other processes in both natural and agricultural ecosystems (Ferguson and Rathainasabapathi 2009). Allelochemicals are released from plants and crops, may have reverse effects in agricultural elds and controlled forest ecosystems that cause reduction in crop yield. These metabolites get stored and preserved for some time and put an in uence on the growth and development of surrounding plants (Putnam and Duke 1974). Weeds are unwanted plants, which penetrate different crops and impose negative effect on their production. There are uncountable reports on the destructive effects of weeds on crops (Hussain et al 2004;Bhowmik and Doll 1992). Some type of allelochemicals, micro-organisms and soil conditions each play a signi cant role in determining the preservation of allelochemicals in soils. After extraction and veri cation of allelochemicals, it becomes necessary to examine their behavior in soil (Inderjit and Keating 1999). In the past, many methods were applied for assessment of allelopathic potential. For example, aqueous extract method applied on medicinal plants exposed high allelopathic potential to some extent (Fujii et al. 1990;Fujii et al. 1991). To our knowledge, little is known about the allelopathic potential of Papaver somniferum tissues or extracts. Therefore, the current study aims to explore the allelopathic potential of P. somniferum with an emphasis on the inhibition of seed germination of maize varieties i.e., Azam, Pahari and Iqbal by different methods. We tested the following hypothesis: the root and shoot fresh aqueous extracts of P. somniferum would reduce seed germination of each of the 3 target varieties, and that this reduction will increase with increasing soaking time.

Material And Method
Leaves of P. somniferum were collected from Govt. Frontier College Peshawar and were air dried at room temperature. Powder was made from the dried leaves. Two aqueous extracts were made by soaking powder for 24 hours and 48 hours, respectively. Two Petri dishes were set for 3 varieties of maize seeds i.e., Azam, Pahari and Iqbal. Each Petri dish had 5 seeds randomly arranged.
Procedure of aqueous extracts: 1.25 gm of dried leaves powder was separately soaked in 100ml distilled water at 25°C for 24 and 48 hours and ltered to get aqueous extract. These extracts were tested against Azam, Pahari and Iqbal maize varieties. 3 lter papers were layered in Petri dishes. The lter papers were moistened with the extract. The control series were moistened with distilled water. After 72 hours germination, growth of plumule and radical were observed. Five Seedlings were taken out randomly for fresh and dry weight determination. Seedlings were dried for 72 hours.
Procedure of litter: 5 grams of randomly cut lter papers were set on the base Petri dishes. Test series were wet with aqueous extract and control series with distilled water. 5 seeds of each variety were set on litter. After 72 hours of germination, the length of plumule and radical were measured.

Procedure of mulching:
Five g of crushed dried leaf powder was layered on surface of plastic glasses containing sterilized moist sand. For each treatment, three replicates, each with 5 seeds were made. The control consisted of ne pieces of lter paper. After 72hours of germination, growth of plumule and radical were measured. 5 seedlings were randomly taken out for fresh and dry weight and moisture contents.
Procedure of hot water extract: 1.25 gram of dried plant part boiled in water for 5 mints. The extract was cooled at room temperature. The seeds were arranged in Petri dishes and set for 72 hours to germinate. Each treatment of this experiment was carried out with 3 replicates with 5 seeds in it. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) by statistix 8.1 software.

Results And Discussions
The allelopathic activity of Papaver somniferum was determined on different varieties of Zea mays and observed its plumule and radical growth. In all activities the germination of plumule length and radical length of Zea mays was noted as compared to control (Distilled water).

Effect of aqueous extracts:
In Germination, Azam and Iqbal variety 100% growth while Pahari showed lesser growth than them. In test series of 24h test, Azam's germination rate decreased while Pahari increased, and Iqbal showed no effect. 48h series showed growth inhibition in Iqbal while increased in Pahari and showed no effect in Azam variety. Plumule growth of Azam is inhibited in 24h and 48h extracts as showed in table no 1. In Pahari, the growth was inhibited less by 24h extract than inhibition by 48h. Iqbal variety was inhibited by 24h extract while it was stimulated by 48h extract. Radical growth of Azam variety was inhibited by both the extracts but 24h showed more inhibitory effect than 48h. In Pahari, the growth increased by 24h while in 48h test it showed inhibition. In Iqbal, the radical was inhibited by both the extracts. Aqueous extracts from leaves soaked for 24 and 48 h signi cantly reduced plumule growth and radical length growth in all three varieties of maize: Azam, Pahari and Iqbal. The plumule growth in Pahari and radical growth of Iqbal was stimulated in 24h and reduced in 48h treatment. ( This aspect when tested by using P. somniferum mulch in experiments it was seen that germination was inhibited in Azam and showed no effect in Pahari while in Iqbal the germination percentage increased as compared to control. The plumule length was inhibited in all the three varieties but in Iqbal, the plumule length was reduced up to 50%. The radical length was very much reduced by the extract as compared with control series. (Table no

Effect of litter:
It is observed that before decay many species release phytotoxic substances. In current study it was observed that litter of P. somniferum when used as growth medium the germination percentage was not affected in Azam and Pahari while increased in Iqbal. Extracts signi cantly reduced the plumule growth and radical length growth in Pahari and Iqbal varieties of maize. However, the plumule growth and radical growth was stimulated in Azam. (Table no. 3) Effect of hot water extract: The percentage of germination was not affected by the extracts in Azam and Pahari while in Iqbal it showed stimulatory effect. The plumule length was reduced by the extract in all three varieties but Pahari was more affected than other two varieties. The radical emergence was reduced in Pahari and Iqbal while stimulated in Azam. (Table no. 4).
The growth of plumule and radical was reduced by the extracts in mulching experiment in all the three varieties. Pahari was affected the most by the phytotoxic effect of extract. Whereas Iqbal was affected in mulching and hot water extract.

Discussions
The ndings obtained from the aqueous extract treatment agree with (Basharat et al. 2017;Sameen et al. 2009) in which it was proven that enhancing soaking duration increased phytotoxicity of aqueous extracts. The extract inhibited the growth of both plumule and radical of the varieties.

Conclusion
Current work led us to the conclusion that the extracts obtained from powder of leaves of Papaver somniferum caused inhibitory effect on Zea mays varieties Azam, Pahari and Iqbal. Increasing soaking duration can be more inhibitory. Since the extract reduced the plumule and radical in aqueous extract treatment (24h and 48h). Also, in mulching, litter, and hot water treatments.