Abstract
Chenopodium murale L. wild-type roots (WR) and hairy roots (HR) exudates have been previously shown to exert allelopathic activity against test plant species lettuce, wheat and Arabidopsis. To further investigate their allelopathic nature, a comparative morpho-histological characterization and total phenolic content (TPC) evaluation were performed. Furthermore, the phytotoxic activity of WR and HR clone R5 against three weed species and their antioxidant responses were also assessed. Except for the higher degree of branching and root hair incidence in HR clones, both WR and HR showed similar anatomical features, typical for higher plants. No significant difference in total phenolic content between WR and HRs, nor their exudates was found. Root exudates of WR and R5, applied as growth medium (GM) wherein these C. murale roots were cultured, displayed selective phytotoxic activity depending on the target weed species, ranging from suppression of germination to inhibition of seedling growth, that were linked with alterations in antioxidant enzyme activities. R5 greatly inhibited germination and seedling growth of Capsella bursa-pastoris, while WR inhibited those of Vicia angustifolia and Amaranthus retroflexus. Such phytotoxic properties (of WR and R5) qualify them as a promising natural resource in the management of weeds. Differences in allelopathic activity between HR and WR should be searched for in their allelochemical profile and the content of each allelopathic substance. The lack of anatomical abnormalities in hairy roots renders them an efficient tool for functional-genomic studies of C. murale root genes.
Highlights
To elude the negative impacts of chemical herbicides on the environment, the overuse of which can lead to development of herbicideresistant weed biotypes (Duke and Powles, 2009; Duke, 2012), numerous studies have recently attempted to exploit allelopathy of plants for weed control
Differential sensitivity of a single test plant species to exudates of various hairy roots (HR) clones or wild-type roots (WR), which reflected in differences in growth rate and phenotype pattern, has been observed (Mitić et al, 2012)
For their usage in further research of allelopathic potential and functional analysis of genes involved in allelopathic interactions it would be important to perform morpho-histological characterization of HRs and to compare them with that of WR
Summary
To elude the negative impacts of chemical herbicides on the environment, the overuse of which can lead to development of herbicideresistant weed biotypes (Duke and Powles, 2009; Duke, 2012), numerous studies have recently attempted to exploit allelopathy of plants for weed control. In contrast to an extensive progress in Abbreviations: GM, growth medium; HR, transformed hairy roots; WR, nontransformed wild-type roots studying allelopathic plant–plant interactions that occur in the aboveground plant organs such as leaves and stems, very little research has focused on root–root interactions that play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of plant communities in the rhizosphere. These communities have important implications for agriculture since their effect may be beneficial, as is the case in natural weed control, or detrimental, when allelochemicals produced by weeds affect the of crop plants (Callaway and Aschehoug, 2000)
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