Triadimefon pretreatment protects newly assembled membrane system and causes up-regulation of stress proteins in salinity stressed Amaranthus lividus L. during early germination.

Imposition of salinity stress during early germination imposes a secondary oxidative stress in 120-hr-old Amaranthus lividus seedlings (measured in terms of accumulation of reactive oxygen species, antioxidative defense system and oxidative membrane lipid and protein damages). Seeds of Amaranthus when treated with triadimefon along with NaCI salinity significantly enhanced the activities of catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, compared to untreated salinity stressed 5-day-old seedlings. Triadimefon treatment also reduced the accumulation of both the ROS (H2O2 and O2*-) in 5-day-old Amaranthus seedlings. When oxidative membrane damages were estimated for triadimefon treated and salinity stressed juvenile seedlings and compared with untreated salinity stressed seedlings, it shows a clear reversal in oxidative membrane damages induced by triadimefon under salinity stress. Triadimefon treatment significantly reduces the membrane lipid peroxidation and the loss of membrane protein thiol level in salinity stressed Amaranthus seedlings. That triadimefon treatment under salinity stress restores the membrane integrity and improves the post-germinative seedling growth could be supported by the data of membrane injury index (MII), relative leakage ratio (RLR), membrane permeability status (MPS), relative growth index (RGI) and mean tolerance index (MTI). SDS-PAGE of total extractible proteins revealed that some new proteins were synthesized in triadimefon treated and salinity stressed seedlings as compared to untreated and salinity stressed one. However the most remarkable feature is the up-regulation of some of the stress proteins in triadimefon treated and salinity stressed seedlings. So, it appears that significant extent of salinity tolerance exhibited by triadimefon pretreated Amaranthus seedlings could be related to the mitigation of oxidative damage to the newly assembled membrane system of juvenile tissues as well as synthesis and up-regulation of stress proteins that enhanced salinity tolerance.

Phytotoxicity of volatile oil from Eucalyptus citriodora against some weedy species.

A study was undertaken to explore the phytotoxicity of volatile essential oil from Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. against some weeds viz. Bidens pilosa, Amaranthus viridis, Rumex nepalensis, and Leucaena leucocephala in order to assess its herbicidal activity. Dose-response studies conducted under laboratory conditions revealed that eucalypt oils (in concentration ranging from 0.0012 to 0.06%) greatly suppress the germination and seedling height of test weeds. At 0.06% eucalypt oil concentration, none of the seed of test weeds germinated. Among the weed species tested, A. viridis was found to be the most sensitive and its germination was completed inhibited even at 0.03%. Not only the germination and seedling growth, even the chlorophyll content and respiratory activity in leaves of emerged seedlings were severely affected. In A. viridis chlorophyll content and respiratory activity were reduced by over 51% and 71%, respectively, even at a very low concentration of 0.06%. These results indicated an adverse effect of eucalypt oils on the photosynthetic and energy metabolism of the test weeds. A strong negative correlation was observed between the observed effect and the concentration of eucalypt oil. Based on the study, it can be concluded that oil from E. citriodora possess strong inhibitory potential against weeds that could be exploited for weed management.

Heavy metals alter photosynthetic pigment profiles as well as activities of chlorophyllase and 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) in Amaranthus lividus seedlings.

Varied concentrations of PbCl2 and CdCl2 in the germinating media reduced the total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents in primary leaves of Amaranthus lividus seedlings (168 h old). When chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b contents were measured separately, greater loss of chl b than chl a under the identical conditions of heavy metal treatment was observed In addition, the loss of total chlorophyll was more than carotenoids under the same magnitude of heavy metal treatment. The effect of heavy metal treatment at germination stage was further studied on chlorophyll accumulation in primary leaves in relation to the activities of 5-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) and chlorophyllase. The activities of ALAD gradually diminished in response to both the heavy metals in a concentration-guided manner, while the activities of chlorophyllase did not exhibit any significant change.