Open Access

ARTICLE

Assessment of the Contribution of Foliar Trichomes towards Allelopathy

Waseem Mushtaq¹, M.B. Siddiqui¹, Hesham F. Alharby², Khalid Rehman Hakeem^2,3,*

1 Allelopathy Laboratory, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
3 Princess Dr Najla Bint Saud Al- Saud Center for Excellence Research in Biotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

* Corresponding Author: Khalid Rehman Hakeem. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(2), 291-301. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.08740

Received 02 October 2019; Accepted 02 December 2019; Issue published 22 April 2020

Abstract

Plant trichomes vary in their structure and cellular composition. Glandular trichomes contain a bulk of specific (secondary) metabolites of diverse nature. Trichomes are connected with various adaptive processes, which include protection against herbivores and pathogens as well. Our study investigates the allelopathic contribution of structures present on the leaf surface of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. against seedling growth of Cicer arietinum L. The infusion obtained after dipping Nicotiana leaves in Dichloromethane (DCM) for 10 seconds (s) was the most phytotoxic among all the infusions. The observed inhibition in Cicer growth was not only dependent on type of infusion but also the concentration. Scanning electron microscopy of the leaf samples showed the modifications in trichomes under the influence of the different concentration of DCM. Glandular trichomes were most dehydrated at 10 seconds in DCM, suggesting their role for the observed allelopathy. Such study on the biochemistry of trichomes and their phytotoxicity may develop highly valuable objects for plant metabolic engineering.

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