Phenolic Composition and Allelopathy of Libidibia ferrea Mart. ex Tul. in Weeds

Abstract

Considering the need to produce effective bioherbicides to control weeds and thus reduce the contamination of environments through the use of agrochemicals in control of these plants, the scientific community has been studying the allelopathic activity of several species of Caatinga, once studies indicate that some species of this biome presentind to have activity allelopathic about other plants. On this, the present study aimed to evaluate the allelopathic potential and phenolic composition of extracts of Libidibia ferrea Mart. ex Tul. on seed germination and seedling development of Calotropis procera (Aiton) WT Aiton. and Cenchrus echinatus L. For the allelopathy test, leaf, bark and root extracts, both hot (100 °C) and cold (25 °C), were used, followed by a control group (distilled H2O). Phytochemical prospecting was performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that the hot L. ferrea bark extract has allelopathic activity on C. procera and C. echinatus, which was observed in all parameters analyzed. The phytochemical results showed that L. ferrea extracts present several phenolic compounds which are possibly responsible for the results observed against the two weed species studied, with standing out Gallic acid, Catechin, Caffeic acid, Ellagic acid, and Quercetin. It is therefore necessary to isolate these compounds in view of a potential future use for L. ferrea extracts in the production of a bioherbicide.

Allelopathy of Dahlstedtia araripensis on Calotropis procera and Zea mays

“…Similar results were obtained byLeandro et al (2019) when analyzing the allelopathic effect of cold and hot extracts of the aerial parts and roots of Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.)…”

“…The extraction period was 30 minutes, and after that time, each content was submitted to grinding in a domestic blender for 3 min. Then, each extract was filtered with the aid of a glass funnel and cotton, for retention of all the fibrous material (Leandro et al, 2019).…”

Phytotoxic Activity of Guapira graciliflora (Nyctaginaceae) on Weeds

“…The use of synthetic herbicides has advantages over other methods of controlling invasive species, but their use can only be exercised through the selective control for the crop (Scariot et al, 2013). Since the selectivity of a herbicide to a crop defined by efficiency of some molecules to eliminate weeds without decreasing the capacity and quality of the final product (Leandro et al, 2019).…”

“…In this way, Nyctaginaceae is a family with more than 350 species, which present a diversity of chemical substances derived from secondary metabolism with allelopathic potentiality (Anaya & Pelayo-Benavides, 1997;Judd et al, 2009). Among the genera of this taxon, we highlight Guapira Aubl., which presents a total of 60 species, and these present flavonoids, steroids and triterpenoids in their constitution (Severi, 2010), which have herbicidal effects on plant growth (Leandro et al 2019).…”

“…The observed allelopathic effects on seedling growth may be due to the action of the major components or a synergism of all or some chemical constituents (Bezerra et al, 2018;Simões et al, 2017). Leandro et al (2019) state that some plants have a variety of allelochemicals in their composition, but in low concentrations, consequently the allelopathic action is nonexistent.…”