Eco-friendly herbicide tolerance in maize (Zea mays Linn.) using moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaf extract

Herbicides are often used in modern agriculture to control weed growth. Uneducated farmers often use herbicides in excessive quantities as recommended by local shopkeepers. These excessive not only harm crops but also negatively impact the growth of non-target plants. The present research was performed to evaluate the adverse effects of low (0.5%), recommended (1%), and high (2 and 4%) atrazine herbicide concentrations on morphological, biochemical, and anatomical growth parameters of maize plants without and with moringa leaf extract. High doses of atrazine herbicide significantly reduced seed germination, shoot/root length, and fresh weight of maize plants. The biochemical results revealed that the levels of chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids were significantly reduced, while the levels of total phenolic and 1.1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) were increased in the maize seedlings. Moringa leaf extract effectively mitigated the severe effects of atrazine concentrations on maize growth traits, including morphological (e.g., shoot and root length, shoot and root fresh weight), physicochemical (e.g., photosynthetic pigment content, phenolic content, total antioxidant activity), and anatomical (e.g., area of leaf vascular bundles, phloem and collenchyma tissue, xylem diameter) parameters. These results suggested that higher doses of atrazine herbicide negatively affect maize growth, while moringa leaf extract can mitigate the toxic effects of the atrazine herbicide at high concentrations.