Allelopathic potential in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is known to contain water-soluble substances that are allelopathic. Aqueous or methanol extracts and residues from leaves of lettuce cultivar “Cheongchima”, which showed the most inhibitory effects, were assayed to determine their allelopathic effects on seed germination and early seedling growth of several plant species. The aqueous extracts applied to filter paper significantly inhibited seed germination of alfalfa with increasing of extract concentration. Methanol extracts from hexane fraction of lettuce plants showed the most inhibition on alfalfa root growth and followed by ethylacetate, butanol and water fractions. Incorporation with leaf residues of 100 g kg −1 into soil significantly inhibited shoot and root fresh weights of barnyard grass by 79 and 88%, respectively. These results suggest that extracts or residues from lettuce plants had potent allelopathic activity and that the activity differed depending on cultivar, extract or fraction.