Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Pflanzenbauwissenschaften Band 23

Mitt. Ges. Pflanzenbauwiss. 23: 146–147 (2011)
Effects of straw water extracts on germination
of oil seed rape and wheat
Elnaz Ebrahimi, Reinhard Neugschwandtner and Hans-Peter Kaul
University of Natural Resource and Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Crop Sciences, Division of
Agronomy, Tulln. E-Mail: elnaz.ebrahimi@boku.ac.at
Introduction
In order to understand agricultural crops in situ and their interaction with the environment,
future agricultural research will need to incorporate ecological, physiological
and molecular methods (Saffari and Torabi-Sirchi, 2011). Recently, decline in crop
yield has been attributed to allelopathic effects (Jafariehyazdi and Javidfar, 2011)
and much research has focused on the detrimental effects of living plants or their
residues on growth of other crops and their yields. Oil seed rape, wheat and pea
have been reported as allelopathic crops which can affect other crops (Batish et al.,
2001). Laboratory experiments are a first step to assess plant residue influences on
the germination and early growth of other plants. The aim of this study was to assess
the effects of different straw extracts of oil seed rape (Brassica napus), pea (Pisum
sativum) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) on the germination percentage, root and
shoot elongation of the same plants.
Material and Methods
Extracts preparation: For obtaining the extracts, plant residues of oil seed rape (R),
pea (P) and wheat (W) were ground. Ten g of residue powder from each species
were extracted with 100 ml of distilled water in a shaker for 24 h at room
temperature. The mixture was filtrated and the resulting filtrate was autoclaved for 45
min. The pure extracts (10%) were diluted by distilled water to obtain concentrations
of 5% and 1%.
Experimental design and measurements: The germination experiment was conducted
as factorial based on a completely randomized design with four replications.
One layer of Whattman’s filter No.1 was placed into 10 cm Petri dishes. Ten surfacesterilised
(NaClO) seeds of oil seed rape and wheat were placed on the Petri dishes
and watered separately by different concentrations (1%, 5% and 10%) of extracts or
distilled water as control treatment. Each Petri dish was wrapped with Parafilm to
reduce evaporation. All dishes were maintained in a growth chamber at 24±2°C and
16 h photoperiod. Germination (%), root and shoot length (cm) were observed after 7
d.
Result and Discussion
Seed germination: The analysis of variance for oil seed rape extract showed that
there was a highly significant effect of concentrations × seeds (Fig. 1a). Different
concentrations of wheat extracts showed a general effect on both seeds (Fig. 1b).
Increasing the oil seed rape extract concentrations reduced germination percentage
especially in R when compared with distilled water as control, but there was no large
different between 1%, 5% concentration in R and 1%, 5% and 10% in W seeds and
the control. In wheat extract, lowest germination percentage across both seeds was
observed in 10% concentration. These results indicate inhibition effects of oil seed
rape and wheat extracts in high concentrations on seed germination maybe due to