# Elicitation of the Allelopathic Potential of Rice by Methyl Salicylate Treatment
## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Morphological Traits  
Plant height, leaf number, leaf area, and dry matter of 10 rice genotypes were recorded at flowering and maturity stages both under weedy and weed-free conditions (Table 1). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Plant Height (cm)**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Leaf No.**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Leaf Area (cm\({}^{2}\))**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Dry Matter (g m\({}^{-1}\))**} \\ \cline{2-13}
**Genotypes** & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Flowering**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Maturity**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Flowering**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Maturity**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Flowering**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Maturity**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Flowering**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Maturity**} \\ \cline{2-13}  & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** & **WF** & **W** \\ \hline PD-16 & 100.8 & 91.3 & 102.0 & 101.5 & 32.3 & 31.8 & 15.8 & 17.3 & 1442.3 & 1372.3 & 324.2 & 339.5 & 15.6 & 14.6 & 25.1 & 20.8 \\ UPR2916-211 & 93.3 & 84.8 & 104.8 & 100.6 & 29.1 & 32.2 & 22.1 & 20.0 & 1505.0 & 1466.6 & 649.6 & 524.3 & 19.8 & 17.1 & 25.5 & 22.3 \\ PSD-3 & 103.8 & 93.1 & 105.6 & 102.0 & 34.6 & 39.8 & 27.3 & 22.1 & 1784.3 & 1574.3 & 69.3 & 84.6 & 15.9 & 13.6 & 22.0 & 19.2 \\ UPR2914-11 & 92.8 & 84.0 & 101.3 & 946.0 & 39.0 & 44.8 & 24.3 & 18.3 & 1900.6 & 1696.6 & 326.0 & 72.3 & 19.3 & 17.4 & 29.8 & 27.6 \\ UPR2926-2 & 88.8 & 88.3 & 102.3 & 201.6 & 32.3 & 42.6 & 22.0 & 22.3 & 1151.6 & 1607.3 & 889.6 & 840.3 & 18.1 & 16.9 & 33.6 & 31.1 \\ UPR2992-17-3-1 & 94.0 & 91.3 & 103.1 & 102.1 & 35.1 & 49.5 & 23.1 & 16.6 & 1497.6 & 956.0 & 39.3 & 70.6 & 18.5 & 15.3 & 23.3 & 18.7 \\ UPR2005-15 & 101.5 & 84.6 & 105.3 & 102.3 & 36.0 & 37.0 & 19.0 & 16.6 & 2002.3 & 1896.3 & 265.3 & 169.6 & 13.7 & 10.6 & 25.6 & 26.6 \\ UPR2805-15-12 & 77.5 & 80.3 & 93.6 & 86.1 & 38.5 & 36.0 & 24.8 & 21.5 & 1380.0 & 823.6 & 417.3 & 387.6 & 8.7 & 6.9 & 24.8 & 21.2 \\ V3R11 & 89.8 & 82.1 & 99.8 & 98.3 & 46.8 & 49.1 & 27.8 & 26.0 & 1131.0 & 1107.3 & 681.3 & 814.0 & 16.9 & 15.3 & 26.1 & 22.5 \\ Govind & 82.5 & 79.1 & 84.6 & 83.3 & 36.3 & 38.8 & 21.5 & 21.3 & 984.3 & 949.3 & 157.3 & 326.0 & 18.2 & 17.4 & 28.4 & 26.7 \\ \hline SEM \(\pm\) & 0.63 & 0.72 & 0.45 & 0.75 & 0.13 & 0.38 & 0.17 & 0.30 \\ LSD (\(p\leq 0.05\)) & 3.74 & 4.31 & 26.94 & 4.49 & 82.29 & 22.91 & 1.04 & 1.79 \\ Genotypes (G) & 6.06 & 3.00 & 6.42 & 4.51 & 97.64 & 55.73 & 1.99 & 6.90 \\ Weed (W) & 8.57 & 5.69 & 9.08 & 6.38 & 138.09 & 78.82 & 2.81 & 9.76 \\ G \(\times\) W & 10.12 & 9.11 & 56.33 & 9.69 & 188.86 & 83.06 & 3.15 & 9.68 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Plant height, leaf number, leaf area, and dry matter of 10 rice genotypes cultivated in weedy (W) and weed-free (WF) plots at flowering and maturity stages. The decrease of plant height under weedy conditions ranged from 0.56% to 16.7% and from 0.5% to 8% at the time of flowering and maturity, respectively. Rice genotypes UPR-2962-6-2-1 (0.56%), UPR-2992-17-3-1 (2.9%), and Govind (4.12%) showed the lowest decrease compared to other genotypes (\(\geq\) 8.6%) at flowering. A similar trend (0.7%, 1%, and 1.5%) was recorded for the three genotypes at maturity (Table 1). Therefore, these rice genotypes can be considered competitive, unlike the non-competitive genotypes, showing a greater decrease in plant height under weedy conditions compared to the weed-free conditions. Leaf number increased in the range 1.1-29% at flowering stage under weedy conditions in comparison with the weed-free conditions. UPR-2992-17-3-1 and UPR-2962-6-2-1 were genotypes showing the greatest difference (24% and 29%, respectively). At maturity, an opposite trend was observed. The leaves decreased from 1% to 39% in Govind and UPR-2992-17-3-1 rice genotypes, respectively. This decrease likely occurred because at the beginning of seed setting, the maximum amount of photosynthates were diverted toward the maturing grains (Table 1).