Allelopathic potential of Argemone mexicana L. extract for sustainable weed management

Weeds significantly reduce crop yields and increase production costs, especially for smallholder farmers. Synthetic herbicide overuse has led to resistant weed species and environmental harm. Exploring allelopathic plants like Argemone mexicana L. offers a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative for weed management. Based on this, Argemone mexicana extract was evaluated as a bioherbicide through field experiments at Centurion University, Bhubaneswar, using weed samples from Jatani, Odisha. The study investigated the allelopathic properties of this plant for sustainable weed management, exploring eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic herbicides by harnessing natural phytotoxic compounds for effective weed control strategies. The herbicidal efficiency of aqueous extracts made from various plant parts at different concentrations (10 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL, 100 mg/mL, and 200 mg/mL) against common agricultural weeds was assessed. Significant suppression of weed seed germination and seedling growth was shown in pot trials. In field tests, applications of A. mexicana extract decreased weed density in comparison to untreated controls, confirming these findings. Alkaloids, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds were shown to be the main allelochemicals in charge of the reported herbicidal action upon phytochemical investigation. According to the study, bioherbicide formulations based on A. mexicana may offer economical weed management with less of an adverse effect on the environment. These results show that A. mexicana extract has a lot of potential as a bioherbicide, providing environmentally friendly weed control that is sustainable.