We sowed in the same plot S. alba for two years. In many plot we had crop failure, or low development. The crop sowed in the same day and same soil condition but in a plot where S. alba was never grown, it had a better performance.
Between the 2 cropping season, only a shallow tillage was performed to incorporate residues (of S. alba of the previous year), but no chemicals or fertilizer were applied.
There could be many different reasons behind this event, but I was wondering if it could be due to allelopathy.
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effrey D. Weidenhamer1, Jeannette Durkalski2 and Warren A. Dick2
1Department of Chemistry, Ashland University, Ashland, OH 44805 USA Email [email protected] 2School of Natural Resources, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center – Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691 USA
Abstract
No-tillage agricultural systems provide environmental benefits by greatly reducing soil erosion. Weed control, however, depends heavily on synthetic herbicides that may degrade environmental quality. Cover crops can provide an alternative method for weed suppression through allelopathic and competitive effects. Mustard (Sinapis alba) can be planted after the fall harvest, and killed in the winter by freezing in the northern United States. An experiment was conducted to determine whether soil is allelopathic after the growth of winter-killed mustard. The experimental design took account of important methodological issues for the design of allelopathy bioassays. Experimental designs that can address such methodological problems will be reviewed. In this study, mustard was grown for six weeks in the greenhouse and killed by freezing. Tops were removed prior to establishing green foxtail (Setaria viridis) at densities of 1, 3, 10, 30 and 100 plants per 25 cm diameter pot. Other treatment variables included amending half of the pots with activated carbon to reduce the activity of allelopathic compounds in soil, and two fertility levels. Dry shoot biomass of green foxtail was measured. No clear evidence of density-dependent allelopathic effects, or of allelopathic effects reduced by use of activated carbon, was observed in this study. Germination of green foxtail was reduced by mustard residues.
Media summary
Experiments have been conducted to evaluate the allelopathic potential of mustard as a cover crop in reduced tillage systems.
Key Words
Cover crops, allelopathy, Sinapis alba, Setaria viridis, methodology, no-tillage.es
Sinapsis alba contains water soluble compounds. Therefore allopathy evidence is found in different stages of their growth. It is especially found in field conditions then laboratory condition.
Felice Sartori
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