Herbicidal potential of phenolic and cyanogenic glycoside compounds isolated from Mediterranean plants

Abstract

This study was conducted to test five phenolic and cyanogenic glycoside compounds for growth regulating activity on the germination and seedling growth of Portulaca oleracea L., Amaranthus retroflexus L., and Lactuca sativa L. at different concentrations. Overall, the tested compounds revealed growth-regulating activity in species-specific and concentration dependent manner. The most powerful effects were much pronounced on seedling growth rather than on germination. In fact, the compounds 1 (amygdalin) and 2 (salicylic acid) were the most phytotoxic on root growth of P. oleracea, and they caused, respectively, an inhibition of 55% and 85% at 10 -6 M and 10 -4 M. On the other hand, the lettuce seedling growth was more sensitive than weeds growth to the compounds 4 (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid) and 5 (7-hydroxycoumarin), which exhibited a moderate inhibition at the highest concentration. This selectivity and specificity of these active allelopathic compounds could be very useful for the development of new application of natural substances to control the aggressive weeds. Thus, our findings suggest that the integration of these compounds may maintain irrigation system and reduce the massive use of agrochemicals in agro-ecosystems.

Phytotoxic Activity and Identification of Phytotoxic Substances from Schumannianthus dichotomus

“…In addition, cress showed higher sensitivity to both compounds compared with Italian ryegrass, and the degree of sensitivity varied by concentration. Several previous studies have also documented such concentration-and testspecies-dependent phytotoxicity of allelochemicals [44][45][46]. The different sensitivities of test species to an allelopathic substance mainly depend on the physiological and biochemical attributes of each test plant.…”

Phytotoxic Effects of Senna garrettiana and Identification of Phytotoxic Substances for the Development of Bioherbicides

“…The phytotoxic monoterpene 1,8-cineol, from the labdanum of Cistus ladanifer L., was modified to enhance phytotoxicity and then commercialized as Cinmethylene [16,17]. Therefore, investigating phytotoxic plants and identifying their phytotoxic compounds can be a starting point for providing an opportunity for phytochemicals to become part of bioherbicides, or be a new site of action, or both [18][19][20]. The approach of bioassay-directed fractionation (via column chromatography) has been widely employed to isolate bioactive compounds from plant extracts [21][22][23].…”