Allelopathic Effect of Aqueous Extracts of Lantana camara on Germination of Peanut Seeds

Lantana camara L., introduced as an ornamental plant in India a century ago, has invaded over 40% forest lands today. It is also actively spreading through Indian states in agricultural farms and interfering with the productivity of several food crops. The detrimental effect of L. camara has been recognised on various plants, however, to the best of our knowledge, published studies have not explored its effect on an important cash crop of India i.e., Arachis hypogea. Hence, in the present study, the allelopathic effect of aqueous extracts of L. camara on germination and chlorophyll, protein profile of peanut seeds was determined. It was observed that 1% L. camara aqueous extracts has negligible effect on seed germination, and chlorophyll a and protein content of germinated A. hypogea seeds, but significantly affected total chlorophyll and chlorophyll b concentration. At higher concentrations (1% and 3%), the allelopathic effect of L. camara aqueous extracts was clearly evident on all three growth parameters of peanuts evaluated in this study. In conclusion, our study reports that L. camara may prove to be a much bigger challenge in management of peanut productivity as compared to other invasive weeds, if proper preventive measures are not recognized immediately.