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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NON-TRANSGENIC AND SALT TOLERANT TRANSGENIC EUCALYPTUS CAMALDULENSIS FOR DIVERSITY AND ALLELOPATHIC EFFECTS OF ESSENTIAL OILS

SYED ABDULLAH GILANI^1,2, AKIRA KIKUCHI², XIANG YU², MUHAMMAD ZAHEER AHMAD³, MAMI SUGANO⁴, YOSHIHARU FUJII⁴, KAZUO N. WATANABE^2*

¹Department of Biological Science and Chemistry, College of Arts and Science, University of Nizwa, Birkat-al-Mouz, Nizwa, Oman

²Gene Research Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba,1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan

³Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization (ISHU), University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan ⁴Biodiversity Division, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan

^*Corresponding author’s email: nabechan@gene.tsukuba.ac.jp 

Postal address: Prof. Dr. Kazuo N. Watanabe, Gene Research Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan.

Abstract

Eucalyptus camaldulensis is one of the most widely planted eucalypts in the world that has importance in agricultural, ecological, cultural and recreational areas. Allelopathic effects of essential oils extracted from non-transgenic and transgenic (salt tolerant conferring full mangrin gene and core mangrin gene) E. camaldulensis lines were studied on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) seed germination and early (72 h) growth of root and hypocotyl. Seed germination was significantly higher in most of the transgenic lines than non-transgenic lines. Low (1–3 µl) oil concentration stimulated root growth but was inhibitory for the hypocotyl. Higher concentrations (>20 µl) of these oils arrested growth of both the roots and hypocotyls of lettuce seeds completely. In general, all the results showed no significant inhibitory effects of transgenic and non-transgenic lines on lettuce seeds. GCMS analysis showed 18 chemical compounds with 1,8-cineole and α-pinene, as a major oil constituents of E. camaldulensis with no variation between transgenic and non-transgenic lines. However, the average quantity of α-pinene in non-transgenic lines was higher than the transgenic lines but in case of 1,8-cineole no difference was observed between transgenic and non-transgenic genotypes.

Key words: Allelopathy, Essential oils, Mangrin gene, Seedling growth, Transgenic Eucalyptus camaldulensis.