ECOLOGICAL AND ALLELOPATHIC STUDIES ON CHENOPODIUM MURALE L.IN DIFFERENT HABITATS

Abstract

Field studies were carried out to investigate the ecological characteristic of Chenopodium murale along a transect stretched from the Eastern side to the Western side of Sohag. The transect crossed different habitat types that include newly reclaimed agricultural lands, old cultivated lands, canal banks and fallow lands. Vegetation and plant comminutes dominated or co-dominated by the candidate species were sociologically and floristically analyzed. The investigation included laboratory studies to explore the potential allelopathic effect of plant extract and soil amendment on some growth characteristics and metabolic products of the associate species that represented by Melilotus indicus, Trifolium alexandrinum, Triticum pyramidal, lycopersicum esculentum and Cucumus sativus. The growth chamber experiments showed that both aqueous extract and soil fraternizing with the tissues of C. murale have significantly inhibited the growth ;:r.:1d metabolite production by the test species. This may explain the vegetation pattern under natural conditions, where some allelochemicals release from C. murale onto the environment and retard the growth and establishment of the neighbouring species.