J. Seidlova et B. Sarapatka, BIOHERBICIDAL EFFECTS OF PEPPERMINT (MENTHA-PIPERITA) ON SELECTED WEED SPECIES - A LABORATORY STUDY, BIOLOGIA, 52(1), 1997, pp. 85-90
The objective of our experiments was to explore the possibilities of e
xploiting Mentha piperita HUDS. allelopathic potential to control a gr
oup of the selected 10 weed species. Two types of bioagents were used
for our purpose, namely Mentha concentrate and pure extracted Mentha p
iperita essential oil. Weed seeds were cultured under in vitro conditi
ons on the artificial medium according to MURASHIGE and SKOOG (1962) w
ith the omission of growth regulators and vitamins, but containing dif
ferent concentrations of the above bioagents. The bioagents under stud
y exhibited a comparatively strong allelopathic action against the ger
minating seeds. In most of the weed species under study the applicatio
n of the bioagents brought about a decrease in the percentage of weed
seeds germinating and a reduction in shoot and root dry weight compare
d to the control. Lower concentrations of the bioagents were found to
have a stimulatory effect on the biomass dry weight of some weed speci
es, whilst this effect got inhibitory with the increasing bioagents co
ncentrations.