2.2 Plant culture and treatment
Seeds of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. “Basmenj”) and wheat
(Triticum aestivum L. “Pishgam”) were supplied by Agricultural
and Natural Resources Research Center of Iran and stored at 4 °C until
cultivation. Firstly, plant seeds were sterilized using
sodium-hypochlorite solution (1% v/v) for 5 minutes, cultivated in
sterile perlite and moisturized by sterile distilled water for 7 days.
Thereafter, uniform seedlings were transferred to Hoagland growth medium
and grown for 7 days. Uniform 14 days old seedlings were treated by
redroot pigweed leachate. Hoagland solution was used as the only
solution for control plants. When allelopathic symptoms (such as
chlorosis, decline in plant’s growth and development, and so on- almost
after three days) were observed, bio-assays were conducted.