Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-x5cpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T18:27:09.084Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Antibiotic Effects of Plants in Laboratory and Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

G. W. Selleck
G. W. Selleck*
Affiliation:
Agr. Market Develop., Monsanto Co., St. Louis, Missouri 63166
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In laboratory experiments, plant extracts of small everlasting (Antennaria microphylla Rydb.), field pussytoes (A. neglecta Greene), and leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) were toxic to germinating seeds. Extracts of small everlasting inhibited vegetative development of leafy spurge, and soil taken from the immediate vicinity of roots inhibited germination and radicle elongation of germinating seeds of some species. Small everlasting competes vigorously with leafy spurge, and this competition cannot be attributed to morphology and growth habit. It suppressed vegetative growth of leafy spurge from rhizome sections in which the two species were competing in pots. In field experiments, this shallow-rooted, lowgrowing plant exhibited a marked inhibition on the growth of the vigorous, deep-rooted perennial, leafy spurge, as did the soil in which small everlasting had been growing. Antibiotic competition appears to be significant with the Antennaria spp., and the paucity of forbs in patches of leafy spurge, even when bare ground is visible between shoots, suggests that this species also exerts antibiotic effects on other plants. Allelopathy is probably a significant influence in interspacial relationships of species in most plant communities. A fuller knowledge of these relationships and their causes could lead to the utilization of this phenomenon in weed control.

Type
Research Article
Information
Weed Science , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , March 1972 , pp. 189 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Becker, Y., Guyot, M. L., et Heim, M. R. 1951. Biologie vegetale-Sur une particularité fonctionnelle des exsudats racinaires de certains vegetaux. Compt. Rend. Acad. des Sci. 232:1585–1587.Google Scholar
2. Benedict, H. M. 1941. The inhibitory effect of dead roots on the growth of brome grass. J. Amer. Soc. Agron. 33:1108–1109.Google Scholar
3. Bonner, J. 1950. The role of toxic substances in the interactions of higher plants. Bot. Rev. 16:51–65.Google Scholar
4. Curtis, J. T. and Cottam, G. 1950. Antibiotic and autotoxic effects in prairie sunflower. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 77:187–191.Google Scholar
5. De Candolle, A. P. 1832. Physiologie Vegetale. T. III. p. 1474.Google Scholar
6. Evenari, M. 1949. Germination inhibitors. Bot. Rev. 15:153–194.Google Scholar
7. Guyot, L. 1951. Sur un aspect du determinisme biologique de 1'evolution floristique de quelques groupements vegetaux. Compt. Rend. Sci. Soc. Biogr. 28:3–14.Google Scholar
8. Hamilton, K. C. and Buchholtz, K. P. 1955. Effects of rhizomes of quackgrass (Agropyron repens) and shading on the seedling. Ecology 36:304–308.Google Scholar
9. Knapp, R. 1954. Experimentelle Sociologie der Hoheren Pflanzen. Erster Band. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart. pp. 92–94, 100–105.Google Scholar
10. Kommedahl, T. 1957. Quackgrass can be toxic to crop seedlings. Down to Earth 13:4–5.Google Scholar
11. Tourneau, D. Le, Failes, G. D., and Heggeness, H. G. 1956. The effect of aqueous extracts of plant tissue on germination of seeds and growth of seedlings. Weeds 4:363–368.Google Scholar
12. Tourneau, D. Le and Heggeness, H. G. 1957. Germination and growth inhibitors in leafy spurge foliage and quackgrass rhizomes. Weeds 5:12–19.Google Scholar
13. Massey, A. B. 1925. Antagonism of walnuts (Juglans nigra and J. cinerea) in certain plant associations. Phytopathology 15:773–785.Google Scholar
14. McPherson, J. K. and Muller, C. H. 1969. Allelopathic effects of Adenostoma fasciculatum . Ecol. Monongr. 39:177–198.Google Scholar
15. Muller, C. H. 1953. The association of desert annuals with shrubs. Amer. J. Bot. 40:53–60.Google Scholar
16. Proebsting, E. L. and Gilmore, A. E. 1940. The relation of peach root toxicity to the re-establishing of peach orchards. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 38:21–26.Google Scholar
17. Selleck, G. W., Coupland, R. T., and Frankton, C. 1962. Leafy spurge in Saskatchewan. Ecol. Monogr. 32:1–29.Google Scholar