sustainability Article Evaluation of Allelopathic Potentials from Medicinal Plant Species in Phnom Kulen National Park, Cambodia by the Sandwich Method Yourk Sothearith 1,2 , Kwame Sarpong Appiah 1, Takashi Motobayashi 1,* , Izumi Watanabe 3 , Chan Somaly 2, Akifumi Sugiyama 4 and Yoshiharu Fujii 1,* 1 Department of International Environmental and Agricultural Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan;
[email protected] (Y.S.);
[email protected] (K.S.A.) 2 Ministry of Environment, Morodok Techcho (Lot 503) Tonle Bassac, Phnom Penh 12301, Cambodia;
[email protected] 3 Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan;
[email protected] 4 Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto University, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (T.M.);
[email protected] (Y.F.) Abstract: Phnom Kulen National Park, in north-western Cambodia, has huge richness in biodiversity and medicinal value. One hundred and ninety-five (195) medicinal plant species were collected from the national park to examine allelopathic potentials by using the sandwich method, a specific bioassay for the evaluation of leachates from plants. The study found 58 out of 195 medicinal plant species showed significant inhibitory effects on lettuce radicle elongation as evaluated by standard deviation variance based on the normal distribution. Three species including Iris pallida (4% of control), Parabarium micranthum (7.5% of control), and Peliosanthes teta (8.2% of control) showed Citation: Sothearith, Y.; Appiah, K.S.; strong inhibition of lettuce radicle elongation less than 10% of the control.