State Key Lab. Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Xiangshan Nanxincun, Haidian District, Beijing, 100093, China, E. Mail: zhenying@ibcas.ac.cn; dongming@ibcas.ac.cn.
*Correspondence author;
1Ecology Department, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agric. University, Changsha, 410128, China
2Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
We studied the allelopathic effects of Mikania micrantha on seed vigour, seed germination and seedling growth of three receptor species (Robinia pseudoacacia L., Lolium perenne L. and Lagerstroemia indica L.) under different exposure times. The target species were selected from the Mikania-invaded ecosystem in South China. The inhibitory effects on seed vigour, seed germination and seedling growth of these test species increased with increasing exposure times and at higher extract concentrations. Seed vigour was more sensitive to extracts of Mikania than seed germination and seedling growth. Robinia pseudoacacia was more resistant to Mikania extract than Lolium perenne and Lagerstroemia indica. We found that even short exposure time (50–100 h) to Mikania extract had strong allelopathic effects on seed vigour, seed germination and seedling growth of test species.
Allelopathy, exposure time, Lagerstroemia indica, Lolium perenne, Mikania micrantha, Robinia pseudoacacia, seed germination, seed vigour, seedling growth
