1The State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming at Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A & F University, No. 26 Xinong Road, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi Province, China
College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, Anhui Province, China
*Correspondence author: E.Mail: mayongqing@ms.iswc.ac.cn
Online published on 7 November, 2012.
The allelopathic potential of wheat (Triticumaestivum) plants was assayed on different growth stages of potato (Solanum tuberosum) by mixing the donor plant material (wheat component powder) with agar in solid tissue culture method. The allelopathic mechanism was examined using the un-sterile shoots of wheat plants, a combination of un-sterile shoots of wheat and the Alopecurus aequalis weed. Wheat biomass inhibited the growth of potato seedlings and the inhibition intensity was closely related to the donor material type, sampling stage, cultivar and test conditions. Allelopathic effects of wheat on potato declined in order: shoots > rhizosphere soil > roots. Wheat seedlings and mature plants proved most allelopathic. Transgenic potato displayed stronger resistance to allelopathic effects of wheat than conventional potato. The application of activated carbon and biomass of A. aequalis and Medicago sativa, wheat showed no effect, synergistic and antagonistic effects, respectively. However, under sterile conditions, all donor materials promoted the growth of potato seedlings, suggesting the conversion from allelopathic inhibition to nutrients supplementation. Wheat plant material also lead to the accumulation of oxygen radical species (O2- and H2O2, MDA) in leaves of potato seedlings and increased the membrane permeability and altered the activity of SOD and APX enzymes.
Agar, allelopathy, Alopecurus aequalis, crops, oxygen radicals, Solanum tuberosum, Triticum aestivum, weed, wheat
