ALLELOPATHIC POTENTIAL OF AN INVASIVE PLANT (Cassytha filiformis L.) UNDER DIFFERENT ASSESSING CONDITIONS

Cassytha filiformis is a parasitic invasive plant and causes troublesome to both cultivated and non-cultivated crops in the world. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the allelopathic potential of C. filiformis in the different assessing conditions. In bioassay, C. filiformis showed significant inhibition on the growth of the indicator plants. In net house, the dry weight of barnyardgrass was highly suppressed by 76.7% at the concentration of 200 g/m2. In field trial, shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight of barnyardgrass were remarkably inhibited by 37.1%, 47.1% and 42.7%, at 2 ton/ha of applying C. filiformis powder. The total average inhibition (TAI) of the biomass of indicator plants showed significant variation, of which the TAI of field trial was the highest, followed by net house and the least was in the bioassay. Our findings have revealed that the inhibition percentage is proportional to the applied concentration of C. filiformis powder and depended on the type of indicator plants. This is the first report on examing allelopathic potential of C. filiformis species. Our study may provide useful information on the allelopathic property of C. filiformis. This plant should be exploited as a natural herbicide to control paddy weeds for sustainable agriculture production.