Competitive and Allelopathic Effects Between Barley Doubled-haploid Lines and Rye (Secale cereale L.) Under Field Conditions

Understanding allelopathy in crop plants is necessary and essential in order to improve and increase yield, maintain species diversity, manage plants and protect the environment. Despite the studies conducted on plant allelopathy, the development and introduction of cultivars with high allelopathic ability is limited to a large extent due to the lack of information about its genetics.

To investigate the allelopathic effect of double haploid lines of barley and rye, an experiment was conducted in the form of a simple lattice design with two replications in the research farm of Zanjan University in 2017. A row of rye was planted in the middle of the barley experimental plots. Some physiological traits and plant height were measured in rye and phenol content was also studied in the atmosphere under natural conditions.

The results of the effect of double barley allelopathy lines showed that there was a significant difference in plant height, chlorophyll b content, carotenoid content, carbohydrate content and chlorophyll content index (SPAD) in rye plant. Barley double haploid lines also had significant differences in terms of phenol content.

The results of this research can indicate the potential of double haploid population of barley known as OWB in allelopathy genetic studies.