Improved germination bioassays for allelopathy research

Autor: François Pellissier
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Acta Physiologiae Plantarum. 35:23-30
ISSN: 1861-1664
0137-5881
DOI: 10.1007/s11738-012-1044-5
Popis: A new method for germination bioassays in allelopathy was evaluated. Inspired by pharmacology, allelochemical quantity to test on different target seeds was calculated according to seeds biometry. The first step consisted in measuring volume, mass, surface and shape of Lactuca sativa and Raphanus sativus seeds. The radish seed mass, surface, volume and contact area biometric parameters were respectively 10, 2, 6 and 1.7 that of lettuce. Two germination bioassay sets were compared: (i) a conventional one, testing the same concentration of allelochemical (2-benzoxazolinone termed as “BOA”) on the two species and, (ii) a biometrics enhanced seed test (“BEST” method), employing quantities of the chemical that were calculated in proportion to seed biometry parameters. The conventional method indicated that 1 mM BOA slowed and decreased germination rate (radish 50 %, lettuce 10 %) whereas 10 and 0.1 μM did not induce any effect. The BEST method offered more differentiated results: applied BOA according to seed volume induced significant inhibition of radish germination (both quantities), while lettuce was only affected by the highest dose. The same occurred when considering grain surface and contact area. Thus, the BEST assay showed more clearly that radish was more sensitive to BOA than lettuce. Compared to a setup with identical test compound concentrations for all tested species, the BEST method provides more differentiated results contributing to a more realistic comparative susceptibility assessment.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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