The Allelopathic Effect of Dill Plant (Anethum graveolens L.) Residues on the Growth and Chemical Content of Two Types of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Cultivars

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at the greenhouse of Science College- Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq, during November 2009 to April 2010 to study the effect of different concentration of dill plant residue (added to soil at ratio 0, 2, 4, and 6% W: W mixed and incubated for four weeks) on some vegetative growth characters and chemical composition of leaves and grains of two barley cultivars (C1= Tedmor, C2=Barbara). The results indicated that the different concentration of dill plant residue were affected significantly (P≤ 0.05) on most growth characters except number of tiller/plant. The highest values for all studied growth characters were recorded at 2% of dill plant residue for both cultivars. On the other hand, statistical analysis showed significant (P≤ 0.05) differences between two cultivars on nutrient content of leaves and seeds. In general, increasing level of dill plant residue led to significant increase of nitrogen, protein percent, proline, phosphorus, Fe, K+, and Na+ content of the leaves in both cultivars.