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Sorghum Allelopathy—From Ecosystem to Molecule

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Abstract

Sorghum allelopathy has been reported in a series of field experiments following sorghum establishment. In recent years, sorghum phytotoxicity and allelopathic interference also have been well-described in greenhouse and laboratory settings. Observations of allelopathy have occurred in diverse locations and with various sorghum plant parts. Phytotoxicity has been reported when sorghum was incorporated into the soil as a green manure, when residues remained on the soil surface in reduced tillage settings, or when sorghum was cultivated as a crop in managed fields. Allelochemicals present in sorghum tissues have varied with plant part, age, and cultivar evaluated. A diverse group of sorghum allelochemicals, including numerous phenolics, a cyanogenic glycoside (dhurrin), and a hydrophobic p-benzoquinone (sorgoleone) have been isolated and identified in recent years from sorghum shoots, roots, and root exudates, as our capacity to analyze and identify complex secondary products in trace quantities in the plant and in the soil rhizosphere has improved. These allelochemicals, particularly sorgoleone, have been widely investigated in terms of their mode(s) of action, specific activity and selectivity, release into the rhizosphere, and uptake and translocation into sensitive indicator species. Both genetics and environment have been shown to influence sorgoleone production and expression of genes involved in sorgoleone biosynthesis. In the soil rhizosphere, sorgoleone is released continuously by living root hairs where it accumulates in significant concentrations around its roots. Further experimentation designed to study the regulation of sorgoleone production by living sorghum root hairs may result in increased capacity to utilize sorghum cover crops more effectively for suppression of germinating weed seedlings, in a manner similar to that of soil-applied preemergent herbicides like trifluralin.

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Acknowledgments

Professor L. A. Weston acknowledges the support of the NSW Office of Science and Medical Research which awarded her a Biofirst Life Sciences Fellowship in 2008. The authors are appreciative of the manuscript reviews received and acknowledge this assistance in manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EH Graham Centre, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2678, Australia

    Leslie A. Weston

  2. Department of Biology, College of Science, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq

    Ibrahim S. Alsaadawi

  3. USDA-ARS Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, Natural Products Center, PO Box 1157, Oxford, MS, 38655, USA

    Scott R. Baerson

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  1. Leslie A. Weston
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  2. Ibrahim S. Alsaadawi
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  3. Scott R. Baerson
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Weston, L.A., Alsaadawi, I.S. & Baerson, S.R. Sorghum Allelopathy—From Ecosystem to Molecule. J Chem Ecol 39, 142–153 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0245-8

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