Physical and Cultural Weed Control Working Group of - European ...

9 th EWRS Workshop on Physical and Cultural Weed Control 24
Samsun, Turkey, 28 – 30 March 2011
Table 2
Effects of oregano aqueous extracts on dry weight of the above and below-ground part of the
bioindicators Avena sativa and Vicia faba and the weeds Sorghum halepense, Cyperus rotundus and
Solanun eleagnifolium. Means followed by the same letter in each row (for each parameter) are not
significantly different at P = 0.05.
Concentration Avena Vicia Sorghum Cyperus Solanun
(mg ml sativa faba
halepense rotundus eleagnifolium
-1 )
Above-ground dry weight (g)
Control 0.86 a 0.79 a 1.34 a 0.81 a 0.33 a
0.5 0.34 b 0.78 a 0.18 b 0.3 b 0.28 a
1 0.13 b 0.64 a 0.17 b 0.12 c 0.31 a
Below-ground dry weight (g)
Control 0.44 a 0.72 a 3.48 a 1.55 a 1.48 a
0.5 0.17 b 0.59 a 0.92 b 1.03 ab 0.68 ab
1 0.17 b 0.5 a 0.66 b 0.54 b 0.41 b
Table 3
Effect of incorporated oregano biomass on the seedling emergence and the dry biomass of the
weeds Sorghum halepense, Cyperus rotundus and Solanun eleagnifolium.
Weed species
Seedling emergence Dry weight
(% reduction compared to the untreated control)
Sorghum halepense 33-55 21-35
Cyperus rotundus 5-26 5-19
Solanun eleagnifolium 21-42 11-28
Conclusively, the present study clearly demonstrated that water-soluble inhibitory substances were
clearly present within the oregano tissues. The inhibitory substances have the potential to
significantly affect oat, faba bean and several weeds growth. Further research is already being
conducted towards the directions of testing other species and varieties in terms of their response to
oregano tissue inhibitory compounds and determining the actual constituents of oregano that cause
growth inhibition (Economou et al., 2011).
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