sunflower (helinathus annuus) is a susceptible host to the holoparasite hemp broomrape (orobanche ramosa) in central parts of iran, causing yield loss due to severe infestations. a field study was conducted in 2006 to evaluate the efficacy of glyphosate for controlling the parasitic weed hemp broomrape in sunflower. glyphosate was applied once or twice at five rates ranging from 0.075 to 0.450 ...

Throughout evolution, a wide number of organisms specialized in parasitizing plants. Plants are not exceptions; certain plant species evolved as parasites of their own kind. Parasitic angiosperms evolved at least 12 times and show various lifestyles. For example, facultative parasitic plants can complete their life cycle and produce seeds without hosts, whereas obligate parasitic plants totally...

Strigolactones (SLs) are a collection of related small molecules that act as hormones in plant growth and development. Intriguingly, SLs also act as ecological communicators between plants and mycorrhizal fungi and between host plants and a collection of parasitic plant species. In the case of mycorrhizal fungi, SLs exude into the soil from host roots to attract fungal hyphae for a beneficial i...

Field studies have shown that native, parasitic plants grow vigorously on invasive plants and can cause more damage to invasive plants than native plants. However, no empirical test has been conducted and the mechanism is still unknown. We conducted a completely randomized greenhouse experiment using 3 congeneric pairs of exotic, invasive and native, non-invasive herbaceous plant species to qua...

Parasitic plants have the ability to obtain nutrients directly from other plants, and several species are serious biological threats to agriculture by parasitizing crops of high economic importance. The uniqueness of parasitic plants is characterized by the presence of a multicellular organ called a haustorium, which facilitates plant-plant interactions, and shutting down or reducing their own ...