SCREENING OF VARIOUS SPECIES OF ASPERGILLUS FOR HERBICIDAL ACTIVITY AGAINST PARTHENIUM WEED

Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) belonging to family Asteraceae is an aggressive weed that threatens the natural ecosystem in many parts of the world. The present study was carried out to investigate the herbicidal potential of culture filtrates of six species of Aspergillus namely A. fumigatus, A. terreus, A. niger, A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. spelunceus against parthenium weed in eco-friendly way. Original culture filtrates of A. fumigatus and A. niger considerably decreased parthenium seed germination by 22% and 28%, respectively. Likewise, culture filtrates of A. flavus and A. parasiticus significantly reduced shoot length by 70% and 48%, respectively. Root growth was highly susceptible to fungal culture filtrates exposure. Culture filtrates of all the Aspergillus spp. with the exception of A. spelunceus significantly reduced seedling root length by 43-92% over control. Culture filtrates of A. flavus and A. parasiticus exhibited the best herbicidal activity against shoot and root growth of parthenium.