Herbicidal activity of allelopathic extracts of sorghum and some herbicides on wheat and accompanied weeds

The aim of the present work is to evaluate the herbicidal activity allelopathic extracts of sorghum plants (Sorghum bicolor L.) on wheat and accompanied weeds namely wild oat and canary grass under local conditions in Egypt. The biocidal activity of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of sorghum was compared with two of the most common herbicides used on wheat i.e. diclofop-methyl and clodinafop-propargyl. Application of the tested materials was carried out by using three concentrations of sorghum extracts (5, 10 and 20%) and the recommended dose of each diclofop-methyl (750 ml/fed) and clodinafop-propargyl (140 gm/fed) under laboratory, green house and semi field conditions. The herbicidal and phytotoxic effects of both biochemical agents and conventional herbicides were carried out by measuring germination percentage, seedling shoots and root length, dry weight, chlorophyll content, plant height, plant numbers, spike length and spike weight of the treated wheat. The obtained results indicated that there is no adverse effect of the tested extracts against the measured parameters of productivity and yield of wheat. At the same time promising herbicidal activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of sorghum was revealed against wild oat and canary grass in particular with aqueous extract of sorghum at concentration of 20%.