Identification of volatile allelochemicals fromAmaranthus palmeri S. Wats

Allelopathic volatiles associated with the weed Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats.; AMAPA) were trapped on Tenax GC, thermally desorbed, and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Methyl ketones and alcohols (C4-C11) were the principal components of the volatiles mixture. Seedheads, stems, or roots were placed in a glass container and incubated at 31 °C (10 hr)/21 °C (14 hr) for three days prior to trapping the volatiles. Seedheads were rich in 2-heptanone which was consistently found, together with 2-heptanol, in all AMAPA tissues. Vapors of authentic 2-heptanone and (±)-2-heptanol at concentrations of 1 ppm or higher strongly inhibited the germination of onion and carrot and almost completely suppressed the germination of tomato and AMAPA seeds.