Abstract

In this research, eleven medicinal species were planted in pots containing humus horizon soils collected from Betula platyphylla and Quercus liaotungensis woodlands in the Qiaoshan Area in the Loess Plateau. The seed germination, seedlings growth and physiological indexes of medicinal species were measured and the allelopathic effects of humus horizon soil on medicinal species were studied. The results showed that the humus soil of B. platyphylla woodland showed obvious allelopathic inhibitory effects on Achyranthes bidentata, Bupleurum chinense, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Arisaema heterophyllum, followed by Astragalus membranaceus, Isatis tinctoria, Belamcanda chinensis and Polygala tenuifolia. The humus soil of Q. liaotungensis woodland showed remarkable all elopathic inhibitory effects on A. membranaceus, A. bidentata and I. tinctoria, followed by P. tenuifolia, B. chinense, A. heterophyllum and G. uralensis. Based on our results, these medicinal plants were not recommended to be planted in B. platyphylla and Q. liaotungensis forests, or they could be planted after intermediate cuttings of forests and removing of litters, in order to impair the allelopathic inhibitory effects of tree species on the medicinal plants.

Keywords:

Allelopathy, Betula platyphylla, litter, medicinal plants, Quercus liaotungensis,

References

1. Bogatk, R., A. Gniazdowska, W. Zakrzewska, K. Oracz and S.W. Gawronski, 2006. Allelopathic effects of sunflower extracts on mustard seed germination and seeding growth. Biol. Plantarum., 50(1): 156-158.
   CrossRef    
2. Chen, H.S. and X.Y. Zhao, 2000. The approach and measures for ecological restoration in northwest China. Pratacultural Sci., 17(5): 65-68.
   
3. Ding, J., Y. Sun, C.L. Xiao, K. Shi, Y.H. Zhong and J.Q. Yu, 2007. Physiological basis of different allelopathic reactions of cucumber and fig leaf gourd plants to cinnamic acid. J. Exp. Bot., 58(13): 3765-3773.
   CrossRef    PMid:17965143    
4. Du, D.Y., 2013. Development model of under forest in Shaanxi. J. Northwest Forestry Univ., 28(5): 264-268.
   
5. Einhellig, F.A. and J.A. Rasmussen, 1979. Effects of three phenolic acids on chlorophyll content and growth of soybean and grain sorghum seedlings. J. Chem. Ecol., 5(5): 425-436.
   CrossRef    
6. Gao, Y., J.M. Cheng, Y. Zhao and J.S. Su, 2013. Ecological restoration effect of herbage under five typical plantations in the loess region. Acta Agrestia Sinica, 21(1): 79-86.
   
7. Huang, L.J., Z.W. Liu, B.C. Zhu, Y.H. Bing, X.X. Zhang and C. Lv, 2014. Allelopathic effects of the humus soils from Betula platyphylla and Quercus liaotungensis pure plantations on 9 kinds of common shrubs and herbs. Chinese J. Appl. Ecol., 25(6): 1632-1638.
   
8. Kaur, H., Inderjit and S. Kaushik, 2005. Cellular evidence of allelopathic interference of benzoic acid to mustard (Brassica juncea L.) seedling growth. Plant Physiol. Biochem., 43(1): 77-81.
   CrossRef    PMid:15801126    
9. Li, J., Z.W. Liu, N. Tian and T.F. Shi, 2013a. Allelopathic effects of plantation defoliations on Medicago sativa in the loess plateau. Acta Agrestia Sinica, 1: 92-99.
   
10. Li, S.T., J.M. Zhou, H.Y. Huo and X.Q. Chen, 2002. Research surveys of allelopathy in plants. Chinese J. Eco-Agric., 10(4): 68-70.
    
11. Li, X., S.Y. Yi, H.M. Shen and J.M. Guo, 2011. Allelopathy and its mechanism of extract solution of Oxytropis ochrocephala on Avena sativa. Acta Bot. Boreali-Occidentalia Sinica., 31(7): 1367-1375.
    
12. Li, Y.Q., X. Li and T.X. Hu, 2013b. Effects of Eucalyptus grandis leaf litter decomposition on the growth and photosynthetic characteristics of Eremochola ophiuroides. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 22(3): 169-176.
    
13. Liu, S.J., G.Q. Zhao, C.X. Wu, J. Xu and J.G. Zhang, 2013. Allelopathic effects of aqueous extracts of legumes on Italian ryegrass. Acta Agrestia Sinica, 21(6): 1382-1387.
    
14. Payton, P., R. Webb, D. Kornyeyev, R. Allen and A.S. Holaday, 2001. Protecting cotton photosynthesis during moderate chilling at high light intensity by increasing chloroplastic antioxidant enzyme activity. J. Exp. Bot., 52(365): 2345-2354.
    CrossRef    PMid:11709584    
15. Soltys, D., A. Rudzinska, W. Kurek, A. Gniazdowska, E. Sliwinska and R. Bogatek, 2011. Cyanamide mode of action during inhibition of onion (Allium cepa L.) root growth involves disturbances in cell division and cytoskeleton formation. Planta, 234(3): 609-621.
    CrossRef    PMid:21573814 PMCid:PMC3162148    
16. Wang, C.Q., H.J. Xu and T. Liu, 2011. Effect of selenium on ascorbate-glutathione metabolism during PEG-inducer water deficit in Trifolium repens L. J. Plant Growth Regul., 30(4): 436-444.
    CrossRef    
17. Wu, F.Z., K. Pan, F.M. Ma and X.D. Wang, 2004. Effects of cinnamic acid on photosynthesis and cell ultrastructure of cucumber seedlings. Acta Hortic. Sinica, 31(2): 183-188.
    
18. Yu, J.H., Y. Zhang, C.X. Niu and J.J. Li, 2006. Effects of two kinds of allelochemicals on photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of Solanum melongena L. seedings. Chinese J. Appl. Ecol., 17(9): 1629-1632.
    
19. Zhou, K., W.M. Guo., Z.F. Wang and F.G. Hao, 2009. Autotoxicity of aquatic extracts from chrysanthemum and rhizosphere soil on photosynthesis in the same plant species. Chinese J. Eco-Agric., 17(2): 318-322.
    CrossRef    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.