Response and relation of allantoin production in different rice cultivars to competing barnyardgrass

The production of secondary metabolites and biomass of plants may be altered by coexistence and competition. Rice has coexisted with barnyardgrass in paddy systems for centuries and represents a model system for understanding plant-plant interactions. Despite increasing knowledge of allelochemicals produced and released by rice involved in coexistence of these two species, relatively little is known about the role and production of beneficial chemicals of rice in response to competing barnyardgrass. The purpose of this study was to quantify the growth-stimulating allantoin (5-ureidohydantoin) and its effect on barnyardgrass growth in a rice-barnyardgrass system. In this system, rice produced and released allantoin but barnyardgrass did not. The production of allantoin by rice responded to competition from barnyardgrass, and its concentration varied among rice cultivars tested. At 1:1 barnyardgrass and rice mixture proportion, allantoin concentration in allelopathic cultivars was obviously lowered by competing barnyardgrass, while no significant variation of allantoin concentration was observed in non-allelopathic cultivars. Barnyardgrass biomass was reduced in mixed-culture with rice cultivars, in particular, allelopathic cultivars. There was a positive relationship between allantoin concentration in rice cultivars and barnyardgrass biomass. Furthermore, allantoin stimulated the growth of barnyardgrass once released from rice or added to soil. The results suggest that rice plants of allelopathic cultivars appear to be able to detect the presence of competing barnyardgrass and respond by decreasing production of growth-stimulating allantoin, regulating the growth of barnyardgrass. In this manner, given rice cultivars may alleviate the competition of barnyardgrass and provide greater benefit to their own growth.