Abstract
Cereus jamacaru DC subsp. jamacaru, has been suffering from severe anthropic pressure, in addition, when their seeds are dispersed, some end up not germinating due to the action of allelochemicals. Therefore, the present study was to evaluate the allelopathic effect of the essential oil (EO) from four species over C. jamacaru germination, as well as to identify their constituents. Four plants were selected for EO extraction (Mesospherum suaveolens (L.) Kuntze, Lantana montevidensis (Spreng.) Briq., Lantana camara L., and Tarenaya spinosa (Jacq.) Raf.) and the chemical analysis was performed by GC-MS. In order to evaluate the allelopathic activity of the EO’s, the C. jamacaru seeds were treated with the EO’s. The results showed that the EO’s presented heterogeneity in their composition, with M. suaveolens presenting the highest number of constituents (44), followed by L. camara (26), T. spinosa (23) and L. montevidensis (22). All the oils negatively affected the C. jamacaru germination percentage in a concentration-dependent manner. Regarding the GVI, the M. suaveolens, L. montevidensis and L. camara OEs significantly decreased this index at all analyzed concentrations. Based on the results obtained, it is suggested that C. jamacaru should not be sown close to the aforementioned aromatic species in reforestation programs.
Highlights
The Cactaceae family is native to the Americas where a high species richness occurs (Judd, Campbell, Kellogg, Stevens, & Donoghue, 2009)
Considering the aspects related to this research, the objective of this study was to evaluate the allelopathic effect of the essential oil (EO) from four Caatinga species on C. jamacaru subsp. jamacaru germination, as well as to identify the chemical compounds present in these oils, in order to suggest potential actions to increase the efficiency of restoration strategies for environments in which the C. jamacaru subsp. jamacaru species is present
The compositions were shown to be very heterogenous, with the M. suaveolens EO being the one with the highest number of constituents (44 constituents), followed by the L. camara (26 constituents), T. spinosa (23 constituents) and L. montevidensis (22 constituents) EOs (Table 2)
Summary
The Cactaceae family is native to the Americas where a high species richness occurs (Judd, Campbell, Kellogg, Stevens, & Donoghue, 2009). Jamacaru (Cactaceae) is an endemic species from Brazil known as "mandacaru" (Cavalcante et al, 2013; Menezes, Taylor, & Loiola, 2014) and is a pioneer in the colonization of arid and inhospitable environments, especially outcrops Birds indulged in their fruits, being the main animals responsible for the dispersion of its seeds through endozoochory (Gomes, Quirino, & Araujo, 2014). Despite its importance, this is a species threatened by intense anthropization of its natural environment and by the fact that, when its seeds are released into the environment, some are unable to germinate due to several factors (Meiado, Albuquerque, Rocha, Rojas-Aréchiga, & Leal, 2010). Volatile terpenes, referred to as essential oils, may act through different mechanisms of action against seeds in order to impair water assimilation, nutrient uptake, protein synthesis and germinative biochemical processes (Oliveira Junior, Constantin, & Inoue, 2011)
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