EFFECT OF WEDELIA TRILOBATA ESSENTIAL OIL ON THE GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF COWPEA

Wedelia trilobata is an invasive weed of the family Asteraceae.Objective study was to find out impact essential oil on germination and seedling growth cowpea. Different concentrations oil(200, 400, 600, 800 1000ppm) were used,a controlwas kept without oil. Cowpea seeds sown in these petriplates,at end test period all parameters measured. All showed that treatment had no negative germination. While root length,shoot length,embryo axis length,seedling length a significant variation treatments compared control. GC-MS analysis revealed it mixed chemotype α-pinene (10.859 %), caryophyllene oxide (5.325%) spathulenol (7.911%) are major compounds.