Rapid increase in the hectarage and agricultural systems that use cover cropping for soil conservation and improvement, soil moisture retention, and weed management has highlighted the need to develop formal breeding programs for cover crop species. Cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) is preferred by many growers due to high biomass production and weed-suppression potential, which is believed to be partially due to allelopathy. Rye germplasm exhibits large variability in allelopathic activity, which could be used to breed rye with enhanced weed suppression. Here, we provide an overview of rye history and breeding and describe a strategy to develop rye lines with increased allelopathic activity. The discussion focuses on ways to deal with important challenges to achieving this goal, including obligate cross-pollination and its consequent high segregation levels and the need to quantify allelopathic activity under field conditions. This review seeks to encourage weed scientists to collaborate with plant breeders and promote the development of cover crop cultivars better suited to reduce weed populations.

Artemisinin (qinghaosu), a sesquiterpenoid lactone peroxide constituent of annual wormwood (Artemisia annua L. # ARTAN) that is used as an antimalarial drug, was tested for phytotoxic properties. It inhibited germination of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and annual wormwood, and growth of roots and shoots of lettuce, redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L. # AMARE), pitted morningglory (Ipomoea lacunosa L. # IPOLA), annual wormwood, and common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L. # POROL) was inhibited at 33 μM. No effects of 33 μM artemisinin were detected on growth of velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik. # ABUTH) and grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.]. Chlorophyll content was not affected in lettuce, and chlorosis was not observed in any species tested. The probable biosynthetic precursors of artemisinin, arteannuin B and qinghao acid, had no effect on growth or chlorophyll content of lettuce; however, they inhibited lettuce seed germination. Artemisinin and cinmethylin {exo-1-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-2-[(2-methylphenyl)methoxy]-7-oxabicyclo [2.2.1] heptane} were equally effective in reducing growth of lettuce; however, cinmethylin had no effect on germination. Respiration of lettuce roots or cotyledons was not inhibited by artemisinin. Artemisinin only marginally increased the mitotic index of lettuce root tips at 33 μM. At the ultrastructural level, however, chromosomes were less condensed during mitosis in artemisinin-treated than control meristematic cells. The growth-inhibiting ability of artemisinin could not be reduced by feeding the plants with hydrolyzed protein or treatment with putrescine. Artemisinin is a selective phytotoxin that reduces growth by a mechanism other than mitotic disruption or inhibition of protein synthesis.

Coevolving interactions between a plant population and its microbiota can potentially yield a rhizosphere enriched in metagenomes containing the blueprints for a vast array of natural products. We describe a method of isolating those metabolites through activity-based screening of soil metagenomic libraries. The method allows for the isolation of small molecules produced in vector–host expression systems containing large-insert DNA fragments extracted from the target plant rhizospheres. Allelopathic activities derived from selected clones were screened against a series of controls. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) showed similar effects of the set of controls on lettuce growth, whereas annual bluegrass had a broader range of growth responses. Methanol extracts from clones indicating activity showed distinct patterns in grass seedling growth from the empty vector control, but the same extracts showed no effect on lettuce. The results indicate that the metagenomics method and bioassay screen of clone extracts are tools that can be used for initial determination of allelopathic activity from noncultured soil microbiota.

Dodder is a parasitic weed that is troublesome to the growth of many plants. Our study shows that this invasive species contains strong allelopathic potential, exerting strong inhibition against the growth of indicator plants and noxious paddy weeds in bioassay and pot trials. In a greenhouse, incorporation of 0.5 t ha−1 of dried dodder plants to paddy soil reduced spontaneous growth of paddy weeds by about 50%, whereas the 1.5 to 2 t ha−1 dose suppressed biomass of paddy weeds by more than 75% and completely controlled emergence of barnyardgrass and monochoria. By the use of a separation resin, 22 compounds were separated from dodder and identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry as belonging to terpenes, long-chain fatty acids, phenols, phenolic acids, and lactone. Among these compounds, 15 substances were quantified and tested for their herbicidal activity. Quantity of cinnamic acid was the highest (37.3 mg g−1), followed by dihydro-5,6-dehydrokavain (DDK; 6.0 mg g−1), myristic acid (3.2 mg g−1), and methyl cinnamate (2.1 mg g−1), whereas the amounts of other compounds were between 0.01 and 0.1 mg g−1. It is suggested that the content of the terpenes within dodder, which was rather high in amount (0.41–2.1 mg g−1), correlated to its strength of chemical cues to find host plants. Cinnamic acid, DDK, methyl cinnamate, and vanillin exerted the most potent herbicidal activities against radish growth. Findings of this study propose that cinnamic acid, DDK, and methyl cinnamate are responsible for its strong phytotoxic action of dodder plants. However, whether these plant growth inhibitors and other compounds detected from the dodder can suppress emergence of their hosts as well as contributing to its strong invasiveness needs further elucidation.

Cogongrass is a troublesome, invasive weedy species with reported allelopathic properties. The phytotoxicity of different constituents isolated from roots and aerial parts of this species was evaluated on garden lettuce and creeping bentgrass. No significant phytotoxic activity was detected in the methylene chloride, methanol, or water extracts when tested at 1.0 mg ml−1. However, the total essential oil extract of cogongrass aerial parts was active. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of this extract using silica gel column chromatography led to the identification of megastigmatrienone, 4-(2-butenylidene)-3,5,5-trimethyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one (also called tabanone), as a mixture of four stereoisomers responsible for most of the activity. Tabanone inhibited growth of frond area of lesser duckweed, root growth of garden onion, and fresh weight gain of garden lettuce with 50% inhibition values of 0.094, 3.6, and 6.5 mM, respectively. The target site of tabanone is not known, but its mode of action results in rapid loss of membrane integrity and subsequent reduction in the rate of photosynthetic electron flow.

This article is written to provide some directions on how to determine if a plant species might influence its neighboring plants by allelopathy. There is insufficient space for detailed instructions for individual experiments, so I will provide references for different general approaches and opinions on common pitfalls of those who have worked in this research area.

Effects of cogongrass foliage and rhizome plus root residues on germination and shoot and root growth of barnyardgrass, bermudagrass, browntop millet, hemp sesbania, Italian ryegrass, and prickly sida were investigated in greenhouse experiments. Ground residues of dried cogongrass foliage and rhizomes plus roots were mixed separately with sterilized sand to obtain residue concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8%. These residue concentrations were investigated on bermudagrass and Italian ryegrass, and the 8% residue concentrations were also evaluated on hemp sesbania, prickly sida, barnyardgrass, and browntop millet. Foliage and rhizome plus root residues at concentrations as low as 0.25% inhibited seed germination and shoot and root growth of all species except hemp sesbania. Germination of bermudagrass and Italian ryegrass was reduced by as much as 97% and shoot and root growth by as much as 94% at the highest residue concentrations. Rhizome plus root residues reduced germination and shoot and root growth of bermudagrass and Italian ryegrass more than foliage residues. Foliage and rhizome plus root residues reduced germination and shoot and root biomass of prickly sida, barnyardgrass, and browntop millet at similar levels. Results indicate that cogongrass tissue may contain allelochemicals that contribute to its invasiveness and extreme competitiveness.

Tea is prepared from the tender leaves and buds of Camellia sinensis (L.). In sub-Himalayan tea plantations of North-East India, different management practices are followed to protect the tea crop against different sucking insect pests such as Helopeltis theivora (Hemiptera: Miridae), Empoasca flavescens (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) and Scirtothrips dorsalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). Most plantations are managed conventionally through the use of different organo-synthetic insecticides, whereas some are managed organically by using herbal and microbial insecticides. In conventional tea plantations, organo-synthetic insecticides of different functional groups (organochlorines, organophosphates, synthetic pyrethroids and neonicotinoids) are routinely applied round the year to keep the sucking insect pest populations under control. A variety of defence mechanisms, including enzymatic detoxification systems (carboxylesterases, glutathione S-transferases and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases), physiological tolerance and behavioural avoidance, protect insect herbivores from these hazardous compounds. Insect pests have evolved mechanisms to degrade metabolically (enzymatically) or otherwise circumvent the toxic effect of many types of chemicals synthesized as modern insecticides. The extent to which insects can metabolize and thereby degrade these toxic or otherwise detrimental chemicals is of considerable importance for their survival in an unfriendly chemical environment. These mechanisms continue to evolve as insects attempt to colonize new plant species or encounter newer molecules of synthetic insecticides. The level and type of detoxifying mechanisms differs greatly, which, therefore, results in varying toxicity among different stages, species and populations. Variation in detoxifying enzyme activity is responsible, in part, at least for the selective toxicity of different insecticides, the development of resistance to insecticides and the selection of host plants. Overexpression of these detoxifying enzymes, capable of metabolizing insecticides, can result in higher levels of metabolic tolerance/resistance to synthetic insecticides.