Allelopathy in Native Plants
Josie G Ramirez
Phoenix College
TraIN S-STEM
Amanda Chapman
November 2, 2023
Abstract
For this research project, the idea was to test the allelopathic properties of different plants native to Arizona. The two plants chosen for this experiment are creosote and sunflowers, as both are allelopathic and could contain properties needed to hamper weed growth. After gathering the plants, a tea was created from each plant to create a natural herbicide to spray onto nutsedge. Two trials were performed with different variables to gather more data. Several days after watering the nutsedge, there were signs that the weed was unaffected by the sunflower tea. The second trial started with using creosote tea on Echinae seeds and showed positive results in hampering the growth of Echinae. Despite the promising start to trial 2, more time was needed to replicate the experiment on nutsedge.
Allelopathy in Native Plants
Background
Allelopathy is a term used to describe the chemical inhibition of the growth of one plant by another. It is emerging as a potential new way to prevent or suppress the growth of weeds without using harmful chemicals. Currently, around 34% of the world's crop yield is lost to the invasion of weeds (Jabran et al., 2015). Tests are being completed with many allelopathic plants to see how their growth can impact the spread of weeds, and one such allelopathic plant is sunflowers. Leaf tissue, stem tissue extracts, and leachates of dried sunflower have all been used to either inhibit various weeds or even stimulate the growth of other plants in some cases (Leather, 1983).
As the population grows in a post-pandemic world, humankind has learned from issues arising in previous years of hardships. Food supplies are precious, and everything possible must be done to ensure our crops can grow effectively without further environmental harm. Far too many naturally grown foods are lost to pests, such as weeds, and the various chemicals used in the growth of plants today are toxic to humans and animals and poison the soil. Allelopathy in agriculture can provide us with the necessary tools to continue our growth as a species by increasing the yields of crop growth while simultaneously preventing further harm to the environment (Cheng et al., 2015).
Research Method
There were two separate trials to assess the allelopathic potential of sunflowers and creosote on nutsedge. The first approach involved making a "tea" from different parts of sunflowers and using it to water the nutsedge specimens. There was also a control group that did not contain any “herbicide.” The second approach was creating a similar tea but with the creosote plant.
The main steps include
Material Preparation: Harvesting sunflowers and creosote, drying them, and grinding the different components (ray florets, involucral bract, and the entire core).
Tea Preparation: To create the teas, use a specific ratio of plant material to distilled water (2 grams per 20 milliliters of water).
Nutsedge Specimens: Placing nutsedge in Petri dishes, layering them with filter paper, and watering each with sunflower teas or water (control).
Variable Table:
Results
After performing the first trial of sunflower tea, the nutsedge showed that they were unaffected by the sunflower tea. Results showed that seeds watered with the sunflower teas showed slightly less growth than those watered with DI water. After completing the first trial, the next step was to find another plant to test allelopathic properties along with the sunflowers. Creosote plants were chosen as the new specimen and harvested to perform tests. Echinacea seeds were also experimented with before trying again with the nutsedge.
Conclusion
In conclusion, trial 1 proved unsuccessful as it had a negligible on the growth of nutsedge. Whereas trial 2 showed promising results in hampering the growth of the Echinacea seeds. The next step is to perform this test on the nutsedge seeds, but more time is needed to perform the second trial to see how creosote would be affected. This experiment will be continued next semester, beginning with the methods of trial two. Other methods will also be experimented with to test their effectiveness.
References
Cheng, F., & Cheng, Z. (2015). Research Progress on the use of Plant Allelopathy in Agriculture and the Physiological and Ecological Mechanisms of Allelopathy. Frontiers in plant science, 6, 1020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.01020
Hickman, D. T., Comont, D., Rasmussen, A., & Birkett, M. A. (2023). Novel and holistic approaches are required to realize allelopathic potential for weed management. Ecology and evolution, 13(4), e10018. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10018
Inderjit, Wardle, D. A., Karban, R. A., & Callaway, R. M. (n.d.). The ecosystem and evolutionary contexts of allelopathy. Science Direct. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/science/article/pii/S0169534711002394?via%3Dihub
Jabran, K., Mahajan, G., Sardana, V., & Chauhan, B. S. (2015, March 13). Allelopathy for weed control in Agricultural Systems. Crop Protection. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/science/article/pii/S0261219415000782?via%3Dihub
Leather, G. (1983). Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are Allelopathic to Weeds. Weed Science, 31(1), 37-42. doi:10.1017/S004317450006851X
Li, Z. H., Wang, Q., Ruan, X., Pan, C. D., & Jiang, D. A. (2010). Phenolics and plant allelopathy. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 15(12), 8933–8952. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules15128933
Perez de Luque, A., G. Galindo , J. C. G., Macias, F. A., & Jorrin, J. (n.d.). Sunflower sesquiterpene lactone models induce Orobanche cumana seed germination. Science Direct. https://doi-org.ezproxy.pc.maricopa.edu/10.1016/S0031-9422(99)00485-9
Pytlarz, Elżbieta, and Dorota Gala-Czekaj. "Seed Meals from Allelopathic Crops as a Potential Bio-Based Herbicide on Herbicide-Susceptible and -Resistant Biotypes of Wild Oat (Avena fatua L.)." Agronomy, vol. 12, no. 12, Dec. 2022, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A745142640/AONE?u=mcc_phoe&sid=summon&xid=6a3ebc7d. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.
"Quantification Of Allelopathic Potential Of Different Crop Residues For The Purple Nutsedge Suppression." Pakistan Journal of Weed Science Research, vol. 16, no. 1, 31 Mar. 2010. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A241524612/AONE?u=mcc_phoe&sid=summon&xid=f54117ea. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.
Werle, I. S., Castro, E., Pucci, C., Soni Chakraborty, B., Broderick, S., & Tseng, T. M. (2022). Identification of Weed-Suppressive Tomato Cultivars for Weed Management. Plants (Basel, Switzerland), 11(3), 411. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11030411
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