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.