University Publications

Two in vitro experiments were conducted in laboratory to study the influence of 2,6- dimethoxy-ρ-benzoquinone at 2.5 - 10.0 μM and sorghum root extract at 3.1 – 100 g/L on haustorium initiation of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. at different level of temperature (20 – 35°C). Treatments were laid in a factorial completely randomized design with four replicates. Striga germilings were examined for haustorium initiation 4 days of germination. Data was collected and subjected to analysis of variance procedure. Separation of means was done using Duncan's Multiple Range Test ((P ≤ 0.05). The results revealed that, 2, 6-dimethoxy-ρ-benzoquinone (DMBQ) and sorghum root extract (SRE) at all concentrations tested has potentiality to induce haustoria in four–days-old S. hermonthica germlings. It seems that, the optimum concentration of DMBQ and SRE to induce haustorium initiation was 20 μM and 25 g/L, respectively. Moreover, the optimum temperature for S. hermonthica germlings to produce haustoria was 30○C and at temperature higher than 30○C the germiling may begin to lose this ability.