Allelopathic inhibitory potential of some crop species (wheat, barley, canola, and safflower) and wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis)

Allelopathic effects of four crops including wheat, barley, canola, and safflower were studied on seed germinations and embryonic growth of wild mustard using different aqueous extract concentrations of the crops. The effects of wild mustard aqueous extracts were also studied on germinations and embryonic growth of the crops. Wild mustard germinations and embryonic growth were significantly affected by different crop aqueous extract concentration treatments. The germinations of wild mustard were terminated by 10w/v of all crop extracts. The allelopathic effect of barely on wild mustard germinations were more influential than wheat. Among examined crops, stronger inhibitory allelopathic effects were observed on wild mustard germination when aqueous extracts of safflower were applied. The germination of wild mustard were entirely failed to occur at 5 w/v concentration of safflower aqueous extracts. Crop species responded differently to allelopathic effects of wild mustard extracts as safflower was able to be more resistant. The more intensive inhibitory effects on wild mustard germinations due to the application of safflower aqueous extracts can demonstrate that they can be suggested as biological control agents in field management. It can be further suggested to use safflower in crop rotations because of the better performance of this species against alleclochemicals in areas that wild mustard is dominant. The future researches can be considered to find the exact components of allelochemicals in safflower and the target cells on which these substrates may influence in other plants.