Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

The finger millet and tomato are the major crops in Kolar district of Karnataka, India and are being grown on eucalyptus removed lands with poor germination, growth and yield problems. Certain plant secondary metabolites (Allelochemicals) discharged to the soil interfere with the germination, growth or development of other plant species. This study was intended to observe the allelopathic potentiality of eucalyptus tree parts aqueous extracts viz., fresh leaves, juvenile stem bark, roots and their consortium at 0, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 percent concentrations on percent seed germination and seedling growth of finger millet and tomato. For this, two separate experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions at College of Horticulture, Kolar, Karnataka, India during the year 2020. The results revealed that the aqueous extracts of eucalyptus tree parts had considerable inhibitory effects on germination and growth of seedlings of both tested crops. Fresh leaves aqueous extract had more effect on germination, finger millet seeds showed zero percent germination even at 15 percent concentration and no germination was observed in tomato seeds at all concentrations tested. The seedling height, root length and dry weight varied from 3.92 to 15.40 cm, 6.33 to 16.00 cm and 0.13 to 0.77 g, respectively for finger millet and 7.76 to 17.86 cm, 7.26 to 11.06 cm and 0.22 to 1.68 g, respectively for tomato due to eucalyptus tree parts aqueous extracts. The phytotoxicity of eucalyptus fresh leaves aqueous extract showed the highest impact affecting seed germination and seedling growth of finger millet and tomato followed by consortium and juvenile stem bark aqueous extract while, roots aqueous extract showed least impact. Among two crops tested, tomato crop was more affected than finger millet.