TY  - EJOU
AU  - Liao, Fang 
AU  - Wang, Xiurong 
AU  - Xie, Muyan 
AU  - Duan, Lixin 

TI  - Allelopathic Effects of Plant Fallen Leaves Extract on the Growth and Physiology of <i>Thuidium kanedae</i>
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2025
VL  - 94
IS  - 11
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - Bryophytes play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems, but their growth is often influenced by environmental factors and chemical interactions with surrounding vegetation. Fallen leaves are an important source of allelopathic substances, yet little is known about their impact on mosses. This study investigates the allelopathic effects of fallen leaves from <i>Cinnamomum camphora</i>, <i>Pinus massoniana</i>, and <i>Bambusa emeiensis</i> on the bryophyte <i>Thuidium kanedae</i> in Guiyang. The litter aqueous extract (0.0125 g/mL (T1), 0.025 g/mL (T2), 0.05 g/mL (T3), 0.1 g/mL (T4) and distilled water control (CK)) was used to regularly water and culture <i>T. kanedae</i>. During the 120-day test period, the physiological indexes such as new shoot length, branch length, branch number, coverage area, biomass, chlorophyll (Chl t), soluble protein (SP), soluble sugar (SS), malondialdehyde (MDA) content, peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured regularly, and the Allelopathic effect response index (RI), the Synthetic allelopathic effect index (SE) and the Average synthetic allelopathic effect index (ASE) were calculated. The results indicated that the Allelopathic effect response index (RI) and the Synthetic allelopathic effect index (SE) of the three plant fallen leaf extracts on new main stem length, branch length, coverage area, and biomass of <i>T. kanedae</i> exhibit a “promotion at low concentrations and inhibition at high concentrations” trend. Specifically, at a concentration of T1, a promotive effect was observed, while concentrations greater than T1 generally began to show inhibitory effects, with the strongest inhibition occurring at T4. Correlation analysis showed that growth indicators were significantly negatively correlated with extract concentration, MDA content and SOD activity, while showing significant positive correlations with Chl t content, SS content and CAT activity. The ASE of the three plant species exhibited significant variation, ranging from inhibition to promotion, with the sequence being: <i>C. camphora</i> (−0.170) > <i>B. emeiensis</i> (−0.032) > <i>P. massoniana</i> (0.001). This indicates that the strength of allelopathic effects is influenced by the species of the donor plants. Overall, the allelopathic effects on <i>T. kanedae</i> are both concentration-dependent and species-specific.
KW  - <i>Thuidium kanedae</i>; litter extracts; allelopathic mechanism; concentration effect; species specificity

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2025.069653