Kin recognition enables plants to optimize growth strategies when competing with heterospecific neighbors, yet its prevalence in herbicide-resistant weeds and how herbicide-resistant weeds exploit kinship to interact with allelopathic crops remain largely unknown. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that kin recognition occurred in 4 out of 10 tested herbicide-resistant weed biotypes from wheat and paddy fields. Root segregation treatments confirmed that kin recognition was mediated by root-secreted chemical signals. When interacting with allelopathic rice and wheat, kin-recognition-enabled weed biotypes exhibited striking plasticity. Kinship-based pairing reduced root allocation but accelerated flowering and increased seed production. Crucially, herbicide-resistant weed biotypes growing with kin lowered exudation of the signaling (-)-loliolide, which reduced allelochemical production in crops and minimized crop-mediated growth inhibition. This cascade allowed weeds to reallocate resources toward reproduction and to reduce defense investment in crops-revealing a novel "signal-mediated mutual de-escalation" strategy. The findings suggest that kin recognition is an adaptive trait in herbicide-resistant weeds, reducing allelopathy from crops through (-)-loliolide-mediated chemical interactions. By modulating crop signaling systems, herbicide-resistant weeds exploit kinship for population expansion in agroecosystems, highlighting the role of kinship strategy in shaping weed adaptation to develop integrated weed management approaches.

Plants release a variety of small molecules into soils through litters and root exudates, playing an important role in dynamic fraction of soil organic matter. However, these molecules’ specific roles in regulating microbial processes and carbon cycling remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the degradation dynamics of the plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoid friedelin and its effects on soil microbial activity and community composition. A 480-day laboratory incubation experiment was conducted with an abandoned cropland soil amended with friedelin at 0, 5 and 25 μg g−1. The degradation kinetics was examined during the entire incubation period. Soil respiration rates, microbial biomass, metabolic quotient (qCO2), and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles were determined at the early stage. Friedelin followed exponential degradation kinetics, with half-lives of 68.7 and 189.1 days for the low and high doses, respectively. Friedelin addition significantly stimulated soil respiration and increased the microbial qCO2. The PLFA profiles revealed that friedelin enriched fast-growing bacterial groups and actinomycetes while increasing the ratio of cyclopropyl fatty acids to their monoenoic precursors, an indicator of physiological stress. Unexpectedly, the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomarker increased, whereas that of saprophytic fungi was unaffected. The observed respiratory pulse was strongly correlated with the shifts in bacterial community and stress status, rather than increased general carbon availability. The results indicated that friedelin, at environmentally relevant concentrations, may directly alter microbial community composition, induce physiological stress, and accelerate respiratory carbon loss. This highlights the importance of specific plant metabolites in mediating soil ecological processes and plant-soil feedbacks.

Improved yields can occur in closely related cultivar mixtures. Despite increasing knowledge of the benefits of neighbour-relatedness in intraspecific interactions, little is known about chemically and microbially mediated kinship responses in cultivar mixtures. Using a series of field and controlled experiments that used two sets of rice cultivars of varying genetic relatedness, we demonstrated that increased yield in rice cultivar mixtures was mediated by a root signaling chemical and soil microbes in a relatedness-dependent manner. Focal rice cultivars could discriminate closely from distantly related cultivars responded by altering root behavior, biomass allocation, and flowering time, improving grain yield. Relatedness discrimination was accompanied by an alteration in root signaling (-)-loliolide and, subsequently, the soil microbial community. Furthermore, (-)-loliolide directly modified soil microbes that were related to flowering time and seed biomass. Therefore, neighbor relatedness shapes soil microbial communities, generating kinship effects in rice cultivar mixtures. In particular, root signaling (-)-loliolide levels and soil microbial responses generated improvement of grain yield in closely related rice cultivar mixtures. The findings not only yield critical insights into plant-neighbor and plant-soil interactions but also raise an intriguing possibility to increase crop production by manipulating kinship in cultivar mixtures.

Soil denitrifiers can profoundly benefit from plant root activities by utilizing the released labile carbon (C) in root exudates, though the plants may not receive direct benefits in return. However, the role of root metabolites in promoting or suppressing denitrification remains poorly understood across a wide range of plant species. Additionally, the underlying mechanisms driving these effects are still elusive. We used an optimized hydroponic-based approach to collect root metabolites in hydroponic solution from 100 plant species. We then assessed their differential effects on soil denitrification potential, microbial activity and the abundance of denitrification genes. Out of the 100 plant species tested, the root metabolites of 21 exhibited biological denitrification inhibition (BDI), while 51 stimulated denitrification under conditions of sufficient C supply. Some of the collected BDI root solutions inhibited soil denitrifying activity within the heterotrophic community and reduced the abundance of key denitrification genes, including nirK, nirS and nosZ. Several potential BDI-related secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, were identified using untargeted LC-MS metabolomics. Our findings suggest that the inhibition of denitrification through root metabolites may be a widespread strategy among plant species, offering new insights for developing effective strategies to mitigate plant-mediated N losses in the rhizosphere.

Allelopathy and chemical communication among plants are the chemical response strategies of plants to coexisting intra- and inter-specific plants. Such intra- and inter-specific chemical interactions of plants actively affect their survival and reproduction, population and community dynamics, as well as ecosystem productivity. Allelopathy and chemical communication are respectively mediated by allelochemicals and signaling chemicals produced and released by plants, while signaling chemicals-mediated recognition and communication may activate the corresponding mechanism of allelopathy among plants. Recent studies have found the chemical recognition among relatives within the same plant species, which can coordinate root behavior, flowering, reproduction, and inter-specific allelopathy through conspecific cooperation caused by kin recognition. Although considerable progress has been made in allelopathy and chemical communication among plants, their role in driving temporal and spatial variations of individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems, are far more complex than expected, and hold many worth exploring questions. Accordingly, we elaborated thoughts in allelopathy and chemical communication from five aspects: plant competition and allelopathy and kin recognition, allelopathy and neighbor identity recognition, positive and negative interactions and their utilization strategies, root signal-mediated below- and above-ground interactions, and allelochemicals and signaling chemicals as well as their dynamic capture and identification. The aim of this review was to promote peers to re-examine the chemical interactions among plant species and their effects on plant communities and ecosystems from a new insight and perspective.

Conspecific plants exhibit morphological and biochemical plasticity in response to genetic relatedness in varying environments. However, the response strategies and factors influencing kin recognition in plants remain unclear. Meta-analysis is an approach to synthesize the effect size of plant–plant and plant–environment interactions. Here, we present the first case of a meta-analysis for response strategies and interfering factors in relatedness-mediated plant–plant interactions. We synthesized the effect of kin recognition on plant performance and environmental factors, based on 104 studies with 4045 cases. As a result, we found that kin recognition reduces root biomass, root length, root–shoot ratio, and lateral root number, lowering belowground competition. Furthermore, kin cooperation enhances aboveground light acquisition by increasing leaf area and boosts reproductive success by increasing seed biomass. The kinship effects are significantly influenced by both biotic (e.g., root interactions, kinship coefficient r, sex systems, recognition level) and abiotic factors (e.g., nutrient levels, experiment types, stress type, planting spacing and duration). Our meta-analysis highlights the response strategies and interfering factors of kin recognition in plant performance and environment dynamics, laying the foundation for further research on its ecological evolution and agricultural applications.

The improvement in yield in cultivar mixtures has been well established. Despite increasing knowledge of the improvement involving within-species diversification and resource use efficiency, little is known about the benefits arising from relatedness-mediated intraspecific interactions in cultivar mixtures. This study used a relatedness gradient of rice cultivars to test whether neighbor relatedness contributes to improvements in grain yields in cultivar mixtures. We experimentally demonstrated the grain yield of rice cultivar mixtures with varying genetic relatedness under both field and controlled conditions. As a result, a closely related cultivar mixture had increased grain yield compared to monoculture and distantly related mixtures by optimizing the root-to-shoot ratio and accelerating flowering. The benefits over monoculture were most pronounced when compared to the significant yield reductions observed in distantly related mixtures. The relatedness-mediated improvement in yields depended on soil volume and nitrogen use level, with effects attenuating under larger soil volumes or nitrogen deficiency. Furthermore, neighbor relatedness enhanced the richness and diversity of both bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil, leading to a significant restructuring of the microbial community composition. These findings suggest that neighbor relatedness may improve the grain yield of rice cultivar mixtures. Beneficial plant–plant interactions may be generated by manipulating cultivar kinship within a crop species. A thorough understanding of kinship strategies in cultivar mixtures offers promising prospects for increasing crop production.

Plant–plant interactions are a central driver for plant coexistence and community assembly. Chemically mediated plant–plant interactions are represented by allelopathy and allelobiosis. Both allelopathy and allelobiosis are achieved through specialized metabolites (allelochemicals or signaling chemicals) produced and released from neighboring plants. Allelopathy exerts mostly negative effects on the establishment and growth of neighboring plants by allelochemicals, while allelobiosis provides plant neighbor detection and identity recognition mediated by signaling chemicals. Therefore, plants can chemically affect the performance of neighboring plants through the allelopathy and allelobiosis that frequently occur in plant–plant intra-specific and inter-specific interactions. Allelopathy and allelobiosis are two probably inseparable processes that occur together in plant–plant chemical interactions. Here, we comprehensively review allelopathy and allelobiosis in plant–plant interactions, including allelopathy and allelochemicals and their application for sustainable agriculture and forestry, allelobiosis and plant identity recognition, chemically mediated root–soil interactions and plant–soil feedback, and biosynthesis and the molecular mechanisms of allelochemicals and signaling chemicals. Altogether, these efforts provide the recent advancements in the wide field of allelopathy and allelobiosis, and new insights into the chemically mediated plant–plant interactions.

The improvement of performance and yield in both cultivar and species mixtures has been well established. Despite the clear benefits of crop mixtures to agriculture, identifying the critical mechanisms behind performance increases are largely lacking. We experimentally demonstrated that the benefits of rice cultivar mixtures were linked to relatedness-mediated intraspecific neighbour recognition and discrimination under both field and controlled conditions. We then tested biochemical mechanisms of responses in incubation experiments involving the addition of root exudates and a root-secreted signal, (-)-loliolide, followed by transcriptome analysis. We found that closely related cultivar mixtures increased grain yields by modifying root behaviour and accelerating flowering over distantly related mixtures. Importantly, these responses were accompanied by altered concentration of signalling (-)-loliolide that affected rice transcriptome profiling, directly regulating root growth and flowering gene expression. These findings suggest that beneficial crop combinations may be generated a-priori by manipulating neighbour genetic relatedness in rice cultivar mixtures and that root-secreted (-)-loliolide functions as a key mediator of genetic relatedness interactions. The ability of relatedness discrimination to regulate rice flowering and yield raises an intriguing possibility to increase crop production.

BACKGROUNDPlant chemical defense can be elicited by signaling chemicals. As yet, the elicitation is mainly known from volatile aboveground signals. Root-secreted belowground signals and their underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. This study examined a root-secreted signaling (-)-loliolide to trigger chemical defense in rice and wheat against pests by means of cocultivation and incubation experiments.RESULTSWild-type Arabidopsis (WT) and its root exudates with (-)-loliolide induced the production of defensive metabolites of rice and wheat and reduced the performance of weeds, pathogens and herbivores, while a carotenoid-deficient mutant (szl1-1) and its root exudates without (-)-loliolide had no similar effects. However, the induction and reduction occurred in the szl1-1 root exudates by (-)-loliolide supplementation with the level equal to that of WT. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed a significant change in the transcript level of defense-related genes in rice exposure to (-)-loliolide. Furthermore, (-)-loliolide enhanced rice resistance against Rhizoctonia solani through changing reactive oxygen species (ROS) system, and mediating jasmonic acid, salicylic acid and abscisic acid biosynthesis.CONCLUSIONRoot-secreted signaling (-)-loliolide can trigger chemical defense in rice and wheat against their pests. Such perception-dependent chemical defenses provide an intriguing possibility for ecological pest management to increase crop productivity and sustainability. (c) 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. This study identified the role and mechanisms of a novel root-secreted (-)-loliolide in rice and wheat against their pests, and found (-)-loliolide as a mediator to induce the production of defensive metabolites in rice and wheat, reducing the performance of interacting weeds, soil-borne pathogens and destructive insects. image

BACKGROUNDThe incidence of herbicide-resistant barnyardgrass is escalating in paddy fields, yet the interactions between resistant weeds and rice are largely unknown. The microbiota of herbicide-resistant barnyardgrass rhizosphere soil is critical for both barnyardgrass and rice fitness. RESULTSRice has different biomass allocation and root traits in the presence of penoxsulam-resistant versus penoxsulam-susceptible barnyardgrass or in their conditioned soil. Compared to susceptible barnyardgrass, resistant barnyardgrass led to an allelopathic increase in rice root, shoot, and whole-plant biomasses. Resistant barnyardgrass recruited distinct core and unique microbes in rhizosphere soil compared to susceptible barnyardgrass. In particular, resistant barnyardgrass assembled more Proteobacteria and Ascomycota to enhance plant stress tolerance. Furthermore, the root exudates from resistant and susceptible barnyardgrass were responsible for the assembly and establishment of the root microbial structure. Importantly, (-)-loliolide and jasmonic acid in root exudates were correlated with the core microbes in the rhizosphere soil. CONCLUSIONThe interference of barnyardgrass with rice can be mediated by rhizosphere microbial communities. Biotype-specific variation in the ability to generate soil microbial communities appears to ameliorate the negative consequences for rice growth, providing an intriguing possibility for modulation of the rhizosphere microbiota to increase crop productivity and sustainability. (c) 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

The production of defensive metabolites in plants can be induced by signaling chemicals released by neighboring plants. Induction is mainly known from volatile aboveground signals, with belowground signals and their underlying mechanisms largely unknown. We demonstrate that (-)-loliolide triggers defensive metabolite responses to competitors, herbivores, and pathogens in seven plant species. We further explore the transcriptional responses of defensive pathways to verify the signaling role of (-)-loliolide in wheat and rice models with well-known defensive metabolites and gene systems. In response to biotic and abiotic stressors, (-)-loliolide is produced and secreted by roots. This, in turn, induces the production of defensive compounds including phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, benzoxazinoids, and cyanogenic glycosides, regardless of plant species. (-)-Loliolide also triggers the expression of defense-related genes, accompanied by an increase in the concentration of jasmonic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Transcriptome profiling and inhibitor incubation indicate that (-)-loliolide-induced defense responses are regulated through pathways mediated by jasmonic acid, H2O2, and Ca (2+). These findings argue that (-)-loliolide functions as a common belowground signal mediating chemical defense in plants. Such perception-dependent plant chemical defenses will yield critical insights into belowground signaling interactions.

Despite increasing evidence of kin recognition in natural and crop plants, there is a lack of knowledge of kin recognition in herbicide-resistant weeds that are escalating in cropping systems. Here, we identified a penoxsulam-resistant barnyardgrass biotype with the ability for kin recognition from two biotypes of penoxsulam-susceptible barnyardgrass and normal barnyardgrass at different levels of relatedness. When grown with closely related penoxsulam-susceptible barnyardgrass, penoxsulam-resistant barnyardgrass reduced root growth and distribution, lowering belowground competition, and advanced flowering and increased seed production, enhancing reproductive effectiveness. However, such kin recognition responses were not occurred in the presence of distantly related normal barnyardgrass. Root segregation, soil activated carbon amendment, and root exudates incubation indicated chemically-mediated kin recognition among barnyardgrass biotypes. Interestingly, penoxsulam-resistant barnyardgrass significantly reduced a putative signaling (–)-loliolide production in the presence of closely related biotype but increased production when growing with distantly related biotype and more distantly related interspecific allelopathic rice cultivar. Importantly, genetically identical penoxsulam-resistant and -susceptible barnyardgrass biotypes synergistically interact to influence the action of allelopathic rice cultivar. Therefore, kin recognition in plants could also occur at the herbicide-resistant barnyardgrass biotype level, and intraspecific kin recognition may facilitate cooperation between genetically related biotypes to compete with interspecific rice, offering many potential implications and applications in paddy systems.

Plants actively respond to their neighbors by altering root placement patterns. Neighbor-modulated root responses involve root detection and interactions mediated by root-secreted functional metabolites. However, chemically mediated root placement patterns and their underlying mechanisms remain elusive.We used an allelopathic wheat model system challenged with 60 target species to identify root placement responses in window rhizobox experiments. We then tested root responses and their biochemical mechanisms in incubation experiments involving the addition of activated carbon and functional metabolites with amyloplast staining and auxin localization in roots.Wheat and each target species demonstrated intrusive, avoidant or unresponsive root placement, resulting in a total of nine combined patterns. Root placement patterns were mediated by wheat allelochemicals and (-)-loliolide signaling of neighbor species. In particular, (-)-loliolide triggered wheat allelochemical production that altered root growth and placement, degraded starch grains in the root cap and induced uneven distribution of auxin in target species roots.Root placement patterns in wheat-neighbor interactions were perception dependent and species dependent. Signaling (-)-loliolide induced the production and release of wheat allelochemicals that modulated root placement patterns. Therefore, root placement patterns are generated by both signaling chemicals and allelochemicals in allelopathic plant-plant interactions.

Plant defense, growth, and reproduction can be modulated by chemicals emitted from neighboring plants, mainly via volatile aboveground signals. However, belowground signals and their underlying control mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the root-secreted carotenoid (-)-loliolide mediates both defensive and reproductive responses in wild-type Arabidopsis, a carotenoid-deficient Arabidopsis mutant (szl1-1), and tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana). Wild-type Arabidopsis plants flower later than szl1-1, and they secrete (-)-loliolide into the soil, whereas szl1-1 roots do not. When Arabidopsis and tobacco occur together, wild-type Arabidopsis induces nicotine production and defense-related gene expression in tobacco, whereas szl1-1 impairs this induction but accelerates tobacco flowering. Furthermore, nicotine production and the expression of the key genes involved in nicotine biosynthesis (QPT, PMT1), plant defense (CAT1, SOD1, PR-2a, PI-II, TPI), and flowering (AP1, LFY, SOC1, FT3, FLC) are differently regulated by incubation with wild-type Arabidopsis and szl1-1 root exudates or (-)-loliolide. In particular, (-)-loliolide up-regulated flowering suppressors (FT3 and FLC) and transiently down-regulated flowering stimulators (AP1 and SOC1), delaying tobacco flowering. Therefore, root-secreted (-)-loliolide modulates plant belowground defense and aboveground flowering, yielding critical insights into plant-plant signaling interactions.

Despite increasing knowledge of plant flowering involved in rhizosphere and soil microbes, little is known about root-secreted signaling molecules recruiting microbes in general, or on the rhizosphere bacteria and flowering time in particular. Here, we experimentally showed the flowering time of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) shift with root signaling molecules and rhizosphere bacteria. Compared to wild-type Arabidopsis (WT) with a ubiquitous signaling (−)-loliolide, flowering time of carotenoid-deficient Arabidopsis mutant (szl1-1) without root-secreted (−)-loliolide was significant early, resulting in differential rhizosphere and soil bacterial communities between WT and szl1-1. More significant differences occurred in rhizosphere soil rather than in bulk soil. There were differences in rhizosphere bacteria and community functions between two genotypes of Arabidopsis. The biomarker genera Rhizobacter, Burkholderia, Mucilaginibacter, Pedosphaera, Mucispirillum, and Thermosporothrix were significantly overrepresented in szl1-1. The metabolic pathways, PWY-5304, PWY-5419, PWY-5415, and GLUCARDEG-PWY in szl1-1 were significantly stronger than those in WT. The flowering time of WT and szl1-1 correlated positively with Thermosporothrix and Rhizobacter but negatively with Burkholderia, Flavisolibactor, and Mucilaginibacter. The associations between bacteria and flowering time were identical to those between (−)-loliolide and bacteria. Therefore, the flowering time of Arabidopsis may be mediated by rhizosphere bacteria with root-secreted chemical signals.

Plants can produce and release allelochemicals to interfere with the establishment and growth of conspecific and interspecific plants. Such allelopathy is an important mediator among plant species in natural and managed ecosystems. This review focuses on allelopathy and allelochemicals in grasslands and forests. Allelopathy drives plant invasion, exacerbates grassland degradation and contributes to natural forest regeneration. Furthermore, autotoxicity (intraspecific allelopathy) frequently occurs in pastures and tree plantations. Various specialized metabolites, including phenolics, terpenoids and nitrogen-containing compounds from herbaceous and woody species are responsible for allelopathy in grasslands and forests. Terpenoids with a diversity of metabolites are qualitative allelochemicals occurring in annual grasslands, while phenolics with a few specialized metabolites are quantitative allelochemicals occurring in perennial forests. Importantly, allelochemicals mediate below-ground ecological interactions and plant–soil feedback, subsequently affecting the biodiversity, productivity and sustainability of grasslands and forests. Interestingly, allelopathic plants can discriminate the identity of neighbors via signaling chemicals, adjusting the production of allelochemicals. Therefore, allelochemicals and signaling chemicals synergistically interact to regulate interspecific and intraspecific interactions in grasslands and forests. Allelopathy and allelochemicals in grasslands and forests have provided fascinating insights into plant–plant interactions and their consequences for biodiversity, productivity and sustainability, contributing to our understanding of terrestrial ecosystems and global changes.

Despite increasing knowledge of the fitness costs of viability and fecundity involved in the herbicide-resistant weeds, relatively little is known about the linkage between herbicide resistance costs and phytochemical cues in weed species and biotypes. This study demonstrated relative fitness and phytochemical responses in six herbicide-resistant weeds and their susceptible counterparts. There were significant differences in the parameters of viability (growth and photosynthesis), fecundity fitness (flowering and seed biomass) and a ubiquitous phytochemical (–)-loliolide levels between herbicide-resistant weeds and their susceptible counterparts. Fitness costs occurred in herbicide-resistant Digitaria sanguinalis and Leptochloa chinensis but they were not observed in herbicide-resistant Alopecurus japonicas, Eleusine indica, Ammannia arenaria, and Echinochloa crus-galli. Correlation analysis indicated that the morphological characteristics of resistant and susceptible weeds were negatively correlated with (–)-loliolide concentration, but positively correlated with lipid peroxidation malondialdehyde and total phenol contents. Principal component analysis showed that the lower the (–)-loliolide concentration, the stronger the adaptability in E. crus-galli and E. indica. Therefore, not all herbicide-resistant weeds have fitness costs, but the findings showed several examples of resistance leading to improved fitness even in the absence of herbicides. In particular, (–)-loliolide may act as a phytochemical cue to explain the fitness cost of herbicide-resistant weeds by regulating vitality and fecundity.

Species interactions and mechanisms affect plant coexistence and community assembly. Despite increasing knowledge of kin recognition and allelopathy in regulating inter-specific and intra-specific interactions among plants, little is known about whether kin recognition mediates allelopathic interference. We used allelopathic rice cultivars with the ability for kin recognition grown in kin versus non-kin mixtures to determine their impacts on paddy weeds in field trials and a series of controlled experiments. We experimentally tested potential mechanisms of the interaction via altered root behaviour, allelochemical production and resource partitioning in the dominant weed competitor, as well as soil microbial communities. We consistently found that the establishment and growth of paddy weeds were more inhibited by kin mixtures compared to non-kin mixtures. The effect was driven by kin recognition that induced changes in root placement, altered weed carbon and nitrogen partitioning, but was associated with similar soil microbial communities. Importantly, genetic relatedness enhanced the production of intrusive roots towards weeds and reduced the production of rice allelochemicals. These findings suggest that relatedness allows allelopathic plants to discriminate their neighbouring collaborators (kin) or competitors and adjust their growth, competitiveness and chemical defense accordingly.

Eucommia ulmoides is one of valuable cash crops and its leaves are a high-quality raw industrial material with great development potential. Geographical variation is the main factor leading to differences in chemical composition of Eucommia ulmoides leaves (EULs). In this study, a total of 159 samples from 13 provinces in China including male and female individuals as well as various elevation ranges were systematically conducted using fusion data, attenuated total reflection Fourier transformation mid-infrared (ATR-FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra, coupled to chemometrics. Two classification models, partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machine (SVM), were established based on individual spectra and multi spectral fused information, respectively. Comparatively, the SVM model based on genetic algorithm (GA) searching for optimal parameters had the best performance for distinguishing different origin samples with 100 % accuracy rates in calibration and validation sets. Furthermore, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used for investigating the influence caused by the difference in gender and altitude based on low-level fusion data. The result showed that the effect of individual gender on chemical information of EULs was less than the influence of geographical factors. Meanwhile, an interesting focus was that the PLS-DA scores plot and dendrogram suggested that the chemical profiles of these samples in Jiangxi Province (region 8) was significantly different from other regions because of the green circular economy mode. This study indicated that the PLS-DA and GA-SVM algorithm could be developed as an excellent model in geographical traceability on the basis of mid-level (latent variables, LVs) data fusion with two spectral datasets. Such comprehensive utilization model under the circular industry economy should be recommended.