Rice allelopathy research in China

Abstract

This article reviews advances in the investigation of rice allelopathy with particular reference to China. We first evaluated several bioassay methods commonly used in laboratory bioassay. Then we reviewed the present status of the investigation on quantitative genetics, quantitative trail loci (QTLs) mapping, genetic diversity, and molecular ecological properties of allelopathy in rice. It was apparent that allelopathy was characterized by quantitative inheritance. Several QTLs for allelopathic effect on the target weed plants such as barnyard grass have been determined and mainly located on chromosome 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 12, which were significantly mediated by external environment. The increased allelopathic potential in rice exposed to stresses was due to the increased expression of genes involved in synthetic metabolism of phenolic compounds and the decreased expression of enzymes was associated with terpenoid synthetic metabolism. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.