Specialized Metabolites Accumulation Pattern in Buckwheat Is Strongly Influenced by Accession Choice and Co-Existing Weeds

Abstract

Screening suitable allelopathic crops and crop genotypes that are competitive with weeds can be a sustainable weed control strategy to reduce the massive use of herbicides. In this study, three accessions of common buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum Moench. (Gema, Kora, and Eva) and one of Tartary buckwheat Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn. (PI481671) were screened against the germination and growth of the herbicide-resistant weeds Lolium rigidum Gaud. and Portulaca oleracea L. The chemical profile of the four buckwheat accessions was characterised in their shoots, roots, and root exudates in order to know more about their ability to sustainably manage weeds and the relation of this ability with the polyphenol accumulation and exudation from buckwheat plants. Our results show that different buckwheat genotypes may have different capacities to produce and exude several types of specialized metabolites, which lead to a wide range of allelopathic and defence functions in the agroecosystem to sustainably manage the growing weeds in their vicinity. The ability of the different buckwheat accessions to suppress weeds was accession-dependent without differences between species, as the common (Eva, Gema, and Kora) and Tartary (PI481671) accessions did not show any species-dependent pattern in their ability to control the germination and growth of the target weeds. Finally, Gema appeared to be the most promising accession to be evaluated in organic farming due to its capacity to sustainably control target weeds while stimulating the root growth of buckwheat plants.

Neighbour-induced changes in root exudation patterns of buckwheat results in altered root architecture of redroot pigweed

“…Similar findings were previously reported in another study where the accumulation and exudation of BK polyphenols differed depending on whether the neighbouring plant was Lolium rigidum Gaud. or Portulaca oleracea L 73 . We postulate that the difference in response could be for two reasons.…”

A decade of advances in the study of buckwheat for organic farming and agroecology (2013-2023)

“…The allelopathic effects of buckwheat are attributed to the compounds present in the plant, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, fatty acids, and other allelochemicals ( Li et al., 2019 ). The release of these compounds to the medium can affect the growth and development of surrounding weeds ( Vieites-Álvarez et al., 2023a , Vieites-Álvarez et al., 2023b ).…”

“…(2021) indicated that buckwheat root exudates, rich in the flavonoid quercetin and the stilbene p- coumaric, were able to induce the inhibition in Phelipanche ramosa (L.) Pomel radicles. More recently, Vieites-Álvarez et al. (2023b) tested the allelopathic potential of four buckwheat varieties (Kora, Eva, PI481671 and Gema) from two different species ( F. esculentum and F. tataricum ), and found that buckwheat plants growing in co-culture with the weeds L. rigidum or P. oleracea released to the medium much higher amounts of flavonoids (i.e., rutin, quercetin, orientin, vitexin, etc.)…”

Alelopatski učinek nekaterih invazivnih rastlin na kalivost in rast tatarske ajde (Fagopyrum tatricum)

“…It also contains a wide range of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, triterpenoids, phenylpropanoid glycosides, bioactive polysaccharides, bioactive proteins and peptides, as well as D-chiro-inositol and its derivatives (Zou et al, 2023). In addition, Tartary buckwheat has been reported to have an allelopathic activity against weeds (Vieites-Álvarez et al, 2023). The results obtained by Vieites-Álvarez et al (2024) indicate that Tartary buckwheat can sustainably control weeds through plant interference, such as competition or allelopathy and is effective against both monocot and dicot weeds.…”