The chemical cross talk between rice and barnyardgrass

Abstract

The chemical cross talk between rice and barnyardgrass which is one of the most noxious weeds in rice cultivation was investigated. Allelopathic activity of rice was increased by the presence of barnyardgrass seedlings or barnyardgrass root exudates. Rice allelochemical, mo-milactone B, concentration in rice seedlings and momilactone B secretion level from rice were also increased by the presence of barnyardgrass seedlings or barnyardgrass root exudates. As momilactone B possesses strong growth inhibitory activity and acts as an allelochemical, barnyardgrass-induced rice allelopathy may be due to the increased momilactone B secretion. These results suggest that rice may response to the presence of neighboring barnyardgrass by sensing the chemical components in barnyardgrass root exudates and increase allelopathic ac-tivity by elevated production and secretion levels of momilactone B. Thus, rice allelopathy may be one of the inducible defense mechanisms by chemical-mediated plant interaction be-tween rice and barnyardgrass and the induced-allelopathy may provide a competitive advan-tage for rice through suppression of the growth of barnyardgrass.