Varietal insights into the allelopathic arsenal of Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.

Kalita, Upama; Chettri, Arun; Sathyanarayana, N.

doi:10.48311/jcp.2026.118827.82899

Varietal insights into the allelopathic arsenal of Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Upama kalita ¹

Arun Chettri ¹

N. Sathyanarayana ²

¹ Department of Botany, Sikkim University, 6th Mile, Gangtok, Sikkim, India.

² Department of Life Science, Central University of Karnataka, Kadaganchi, Karnataka, India.

10.48311/jcp.2026.118827.82899

Abstract

The allelopathic activity of different Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. varieties hold considerable potential for developing bioherbicidal cover crops. This study assessed varietal differences in the allelopathic potential of two M. pruriens varieties on rice, Oryza sativa L., and maize, Zea mays L. A Petri dish bioassay was performed using aqueous extracts from dried tissues of each variety, and the L-DOPA content of various plant parts was quantified by HPLC. Although seed germination was less sensitive to allelopathic effects, seedling growth showed dose-dependent inhibition, with root growth more strongly affected than shoot growth. A significant inter-varietal difference in L-DOPA content was recorded; both varieties demonstrated strong allelopathic effects. Notably, leaf extracts—despite having the lowest L-DOPA levels—exhibited the highest inhibitory activity. These findings suggest that the allelopathic effects of M. pruriens are not solely mediated by L-DOPA, contradicting the earlier hypothesis. Instead, other factors, such as plant organ type and extract concentration, strongly influence them.

Keywords

Mucuna pruriens

allelopathy

cover crop

intraspecific variation

L-DOPA

Subjects