Allelochemicals in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): Variation of phenolic acids in root tissues

Analysis by GC/MS/MS showed that a worldwide collection of 58 wheat accessi ons differed significantly in the production of seven phenolic acids in the roots of 17-day-old wheat seedlings. The allelochemical contents among whe at accessions ranged from 24.5 to 94.5, 19.9 to 91.7, 3.7 to 15.4, 2.2 to 3 8.6, 1.0 to 42.2, 19.3 td 183.6, and 11.7 to 187.6 mg/kg of root dry weight for p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, cis-p-coumaric, syringic, cis-ferulic, tra ns-p-coumaric, and trans-ferulic acids, respectively. trans-Ferulic acid wa s identified as the most predominant phenolic acid in the roots. Phenolic a cids, with the exception of syringic acid, were more concentrated in roots than in shoots. Significant correlation was found between the roots and the shoots in the contents of vanillic, cis-p-coumaric, syringic, trans-p-coum aric, and trans-ferulic acids, and in the content of each structural group of phenolic acids. Wheat accessions with high levels of total identified ph enolic acids in the roots were generally strongly allelopathic to the growt h of annual ryegrass.