A bioassay of proteins and evaluation of physiological activity of Cicer arietinum L. seedlings under the influence of allelopathic weed Euphorbia hirta L.

Abstract

Physiological and metabolic actions are the key elements of plant growth and these activities are consistently effected by many environmental factors including allelopathy. Present study describes the allelopathic effect of Euphorbia hirta L. on physical and physiological aspects of Cicer arietinum L. Weed powder have significantly affected plant height, fresh and dry mass whereas, chlorophyll (a and b), carotene and protein contents are gradually decreased as the amount of weed increased up to a maximal of 20g of weed powder. Highest inhibition has observed in 20g. Protein contents have been greatly disrupted by allelopathic influence as well as chlorophyll contents while carotenes have been synthesized in greater amount with the increase in manure concentration. PAGE analysis has produced highest bands of proteins in control sample whereas, 20 gram weed powder showed lowest number of bands. MANOVA computation released highly significant ( p <0.001) differences among the samples. The soil samples show significant ( p <0.01) effectiveness of pH that can be a factor for allelopathic response from soil and plant growth. It can be concluded that E. hirta has produced inhibitory effects on plant growth, specifically responsible for protein damage and deactivation of chlorophyll content.