Abstract
The use of cactus for forage may cause soil contamination by allelochemicals in order to compromise the future planting or even reforestation of that site. The objective of this work was to evaluate the allelopathic action of cladodes and roots of Cereus jamacaru, Pilosocereus gounellei and Tacinga inamoena on the germination and development of Cenchrus echinatus and Calotropis procera in order to suggest actions that increase efficiency in restoration strategies. Of the species of Cactaceae mentioned above, cladodes and roots were collected for the preparation of the extracts in which two types of extracts were prepared for each organ, one treatment by hot infusion and one cold treatment. Germination Percentages (GP) and Germination Speed Index (GSI) were analyzed. In order to analyze if the extracts presented some allelopathic activity regarding the development of the seedlings, the lengths of the stem and the radicle of the recipient species were measured. The results of this research show that cacti don’t significantly affect GP from seeds of other plants. However, for GSI, roots and cladodes of T. inamoena presented negative allelopathic activity for C. echinatus and C. procera, respectively. In addition to GSI, T. inamoena negatively affected the development of C. echinatus rootlets. In this way T. inamoena is a forage cactus that affects the development of the initial structures of surrounding plants. Thus, the exacerbation of this forage species in natural areas should be avoided, since the released allelochemicals can interfere with the ecological succession of the plant species of that environment.
Highlights
The family Cactaceae native to the Americas has a high species richness, around 1,400 distributed in 100 genera, grouped in four subfamilies, Cactoideae, Opuntioideae, Pereskioideae and Maihuenioideae (Judd, Singer, & Singer, 2009; Cavalcante & Machado, 2013; Gomes, Meiado, Quirino, & Machado, 2016)
The extracts used in the research had slightly acidic pH (< 6.5), and the hot extract of the cladodes of P. gounellei presented the lowest pH (4.96) and the cold extract of the roots of T. inamoena o which presented a higher pH (6.39)
C. jamacaru, P. gounellei and T. inamoena species widely used as fodder, release allelochemicals that may interfere with the growth of seedlings surrounding these plants
Summary
The family Cactaceae native to the Americas has a high species richness, around 1,400 distributed in 100 genera, grouped in four subfamilies, Cactoideae, Opuntioideae, Pereskioideae and Maihuenioideae (Judd, Singer, & Singer, 2009; Cavalcante & Machado, 2013; Gomes, Meiado, Quirino, & Machado, 2016). Representatives of Cactaceae tolerate water shortage by presenting specific, morphological and physiological changes, which ensure their survival in arid and semi-arid environments. The parenchyma of the aquifer type, which presents the cytoplasm of its cells mainly occupied by water, resulting in succulent consistency (Cutter, 1986; Menezes, Taylor, & Loiola, 2013). Cacti have a large amount of water and organic matter, being used by ranchers northeastern brazilian to feed goats, sheep and cattle, especially in the dry period (Lucena et al, 2015; Nunes, Lucena, Santos, & Albuquerque, 2015). Among the species of cacti used in foraging, Cavalcanti and Resende (2006) in researches developed in the Brazilian states, Pernambuco and Bahia, found that Cereus jamacaru DC and Pilosocereus gounellei (FACWeber) Byles & Rowley are used by 46.52% and 10.51% of the agriculturalists, respectively.
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