Physiological and cellular mechanisms of natural herbicide resource from Aglaia odorata Lour. On bioassay plants

A bioassay-guided fractionation of the allelochemicals of the ethyl acetate fraction extracted from Aglaia odorata led to isolation of a bisamide, odorine. The growth inhibitory effects of odorine and ethyl acetate fraction were studied for comparison on Echinochloa crus-galli. Odorine and ethyl acetate fraction of A. odorata could inhibit the germination and seedling growth of E. crus-galli, with ethyl acetate fraction being more potent. Thus, ethyl acetate fraction was selected for further experiment, E. crus-galli seeds were studied the effects of the ethyl acetate fraction from A. odorata leaves in wet-table powder formulation on imbibition and α-amylase activity. It was found that treated seeds showed lower imbibition and α-amylase activity. The results of cytogenetic bioassay in Allium cepa roots showed that ethyl acetate fraction inhibited cell mitosis and induced mitotic abnormalities resulting from its action on chromatin organization and mitotic spindle in the exposed roots.