Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum Sommier & Levier) is an introduced invasive species from the Apiaceae family. It is one of the most widespread and environmentally harmful introduced species in Europe and North America. In Slovenia, it is in its first stages of spreading in (half)natural habitats. Introduced species have certain advantages over indigenous ones and are therefore more successful. One of these advantages in allelopathy, which is a phenomenon of one plant’s secondary metabolites on other plants. The main goal of my thesis was to observe effect of extract from fresh and dry leaves of giant hogweed on germination of radish and tall fescue. I prepared 1, 5 and 10 percent extractions from fresh and dry leaves. I used these extractions and distilled water to soak seeds of radish and tall fescue. After one week, I counted the number of sprouts, measured their length and weighed them. From the collected data, I calculated germination rate, average weight, length of sprouts and standard deviation. I also used student’s t-test on the data. The results showed higher germination rate in radish than in tall fescue, and consequently greater mass and length of sprouts. Dry leaves extraction showed higher inhibiting impact on germination rate and growth of radish and tall fescue.
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