Abstract
The Solanum lycocarpum species, belonging to the Solanaceae family, is popularly known as the wolf fruit and is used in folk medicine for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, and cholesterol reduction. Thus, the aim of this study was to perform phytochemical screening of the ethanol extract from the ripe fruit of S. lycocarpum to verify the presence of the main groups of secondary metabolites and to evaluate the phytotoxic effect on Lactuca sativa (lettuce) and Allium cepa (onion) seeds. The fruits of S. lycocarpum were collected, crushed and percolated with anhydrous ethanol and the solvent was dried in a rotatory evaporator to obtain the ethanol extract. In the phytotoxicity evaluation, the results showed that the ethanol extract was able to completely inhibit the growth of hypocotyl and radicle of L. sativa (lettuce) seeds in all concentrations tested. In A. cepa (onion) seeds, a concentration of 500 μg per plate was able to inhibit the growth of the hypocotyl and radicle by 100%. The metabolites detected in the extract were alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, and condensed tannins. The phytotoxic activity can be correlated to the presence of these compounds.
Highlights
The growth of the world’s population, combined with a greater demand for food production, has increased the use of herbicides for weed control
Researchers have been increasingly interested in finding natural compounds that can be used as bioherbicides to replace synthetic herbicides, and that are less environmentally harmful, water-soluble and less toxic (Matsumoto, Ribeiro, Takao, & Lima, 2010)
Phytochemical screening of the extract was performed to evaluate the presence of the main classes of secondary metabolites: flavonoids, coumarins, alkaloids (Silva, Miranda, & Conceição, 2010), saponins, tannins, steroids and triterpenoids (Matos, 2009)
Summary
The growth of the world’s population, combined with a greater demand for food production, has increased the use of herbicides for weed control. Synthetic herbicides cause damage to human health and the environment, such as triggering changes in resistance to invasive species, contamination of aquatic systems, and toxicity to humans. Researchers have been increasingly interested in finding natural compounds that can be used as bioherbicides to replace synthetic herbicides, and that are less environmentally harmful, water-soluble and less toxic (Matsumoto, Ribeiro, Takao, & Lima, 2010). Secondary metabolites synthesized by plants and belonging to various classes (terpenes, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, steroids, long-chain fatty acids, unsaturated lactones) may act as allelochemicals and are regulated or altered by various environmental factors such as climate, and soil. The search for herbicides with different mechanisms of action from those already existing is of great importance, and plants with allelopathic effects could be a natural herbicide source (Alvarenga et al, 2009)
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