Abstract
Research on allelopathic interactions can be useful in the search for phytotoxins produced by plants that may be employed as natural herbicides. The aim of this study was to assess the phytotoxic action of aqueous leaf extract of Blepharocalyx salicifolius, Myrcia multiflora, Myrcia splendens and Myrcia tomentosa on the germination and development of three weeds. The working hypothesis was that leaf extracts of Myrtaceae may negatively influence the development of weed species. Aqueous leaf extracts at 5 and 10% (g mL-1) were tested on the germination and growth of Euphorbia heterophylla, Echinochloa crus-galli and Ipomoea grandifolia and compared with the herbicide oxyfluorfen and distilled water (control). The most extracts caused pronounced delays in seed germination and inhibited the growth of seedlings of E. heterophylla; I. grandifolia and E. crus-galli, with the last target species had no growth shoot inhibited by the extracts. In this study, the potential and efficiency of the tested aqueous leaf extracts were evident because they were more phytotoxic to the weeds than the herbicide. Thus, the aqueous extracts of leaves from Myrtaceae species show potential for the isolation of active compounds that can be used for the production of natural herbicides in the future.
Highlights
According to the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), Brazil has been the greatest consumer of pesticides in the world since 2008, with herbicides accounting for 50% of all the pesticides used
The osmotic potential of the aqueous leaf extracts and the herbicide ranged from -0.10 (Myrcia splendens) to -0.19 MPa (M. multiflora)
The equivalent PEG-6000 solutions did not have significant effects on the germination rate, average germination time or initial growth of the weeds (Figures 1 and 2), corroborating other studies showing that only extreme osmotic potentials affect the germination and growth of plants (GRISI et al, 2011; ZHANG et al, 2010)
Summary
According to the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), Brazil has been the greatest consumer of pesticides in the world since 2008, with herbicides accounting for 50% of all the pesticides used. Pesticide consumption in Brazil has grown by 190% the last ten years. Because the largescale use of pesticides has led to environmental. Allelopathy has became an important tool to identify plants with bioactive compounds (OLIVEROS-BASTIDAS, 2008) for use in the development of natural herbicides that are more specific and cause less environmental damage (MACÍAS et al, 1998). The concept of allelopathy describes the influence of one plant on others in an Maringá, v. Research on the allelopathic process has mainly focused on its use in agriculture to indicate species with phytotoxic activity
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