Natural herbicidal potential of saururaceae (Houttuynia cordata Thunb) dried powders on paddy weeds in transplanted rice

Saururaceae (Houttuynia cordata Thunb) has been known to be a medicinal plant. This experiment was conducted to determine the potential of saururaceae dried powders for weed control in transplanted rice. All aqueous extracts (1%, 2%, 4%, 8%, w/v) from the dried powders of terrestrial saururaceae (Houttuynia cordata Thunb) inhibited the germination and initial seedling growths for lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and major two weed species, viz., Echinochloa and Monocharia in rice paddy field of Japan, indicating that there existed certain inhibitory allelo-chemicals for weed growth in saururaceae plant. In addition, all treatments (25, 50, 100, 150 gm−2) of the saururaceae dried powders significantly inhibited emergence and dry weights of weeds in paddy field and had not adverse effects of transplanted rice. From these results, the dwarf lilyturf plants might be used as a natural herbicide to control weeds in rice field.