Biochemistry of Allelopathic Plant Residues in Soil

As organic compounds, allelochemicals are supposed to be beneficial to provide nutrients to soil, thus the unilateral evaluation of allelochemicals as phytotoxins has been subjected to many criticisms. Here, soil amended with rice PI312777 residues were analyzed for the biochemistry of allelopathic plant residues in soil to systematically evaluated allelopathy or nutrient availability. The result showed that addition of PI312777 residue stimulated or inhibited somewhat specific microbial populations in soil, potentially impacting the allelochemicals release and soil nutrient composition, which means the residues did nourish the soil, such as organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, but meanwhile it reduced the available N levels and there is a cask effect among them. Thus, secondary compounds released by allelopathic plant residues showed a dual purpose (allelopathy or nutrient availability) in biological weed control and the utilization of it is crucial for biological weed control. Biochemistry of allelochemicals in soil may be potentially important biological weed control.