The Allelopathic Potential of Urtica cannabina L.
LIU Yu
ZHANG Xiangyu
TANG Jieshi
HU Yunxia
HAN Caixia
SHAO Hua
Abstract：The allelopathic potential of Urtica cannabina L.was evaluated via petri-dish and pot experiments using alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.) and bluegrass(Poa annua L.) separately as dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous receiver plants.Petroleum ether,ethyl acetate,methanol and water were used to extract chemicals by ultrasound from U.cannabina leaves,and yielded 0.66%,0.84%,2.70%,3.13% extracts,respectively.The methanol and water extracts exhibited the most potent inhibitory activity on Medicago sativa seedlings,which resulted in 32.6% and 47.0% reduction in root length,respectively,when the mass concentration was 1.25 g/L,while petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts only showed weak activities.For Poa annua L.,petroleum ether and water extracts showed relatively weak effects,whereas ethyl acetate and methanol extracts exhibited very strong activities,which significantly suppressed seedling growth starting from the lowest mass concentration 0.01 g/L;when the mass concentration reached 1.25 g/L,ethyl acetate and methanol extracts inhibited root length of bluegrass by 44.0% and 80.5%,and shoot length by 41.1% and 69.2%,respectively.Pot experiment revealed that bulk soil of U.cannabina slightly promoted seedling growth of both alfalfa and bluegrass by 2.4%-5.0%,which was not statistically significant,implying that the toxic substances in U.cannabina plant might have been degraded and utilized by soil microorganisms and hence lost their inhibitory activity.
Keywords：Urtica cannabina L.allelopathyMedicago sativa L.Poa annua L.
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 95-99,117 )