Allelopatic effects of Waltheria indica L.: Biocontrol potential in ecological restoration

Abstract

In Brazil, most degraded areas are occupied by exotic and invasive species, which require alternatives for their management. We evaluated the allelopathic effects of Waltheria indica in the laboratory from aqueous extracts of leaves and roots on the germination of the species Lactuca sativa L. (lettuce), Urochloa brizantha (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) RDWebster (brachiaria) and Handroanthus chrysotrichus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (yellow Ipe). We collected adult one-year-old Waltheria indica shrubs in ecological restoration areas by direct seeding. We used two treatments with aqueous extracts of leaves and roots and a control without extract, with ten repetitions of 10 seeds per treatment, totaling 600 seeds per test species. Germination and use of tetrazolium assays to evaluate the potential respiratory activity of the roots were used. The aqueous extract of W.indica leaves affected the number of germinated seeds of all test species, while the aqueous extract of roots affected only L. sativa and H. chrysotrichus. There were no significant differences between treatments (leaf and root extracts) in species germination. The aqueous extracts of Waltheria indica leaves and roots affected germination and cellular respiration of the studied species, mainly in Lactuca sativa. The identification of W. indica allelopathic compounds may be an initial step so that in the future new bioherbicides are produced from extracts of this species, or even that its seeds can be sown together with non-sensitive native species, aiming for control of exotic species in ecological restoration projects.

Efeitos alelopáticos de seringueira (Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. Ex A.Juss.) Müll.Arg.) na germinação e crescimento inicial da alface (Lactuca sativa L.)

“…Diante do aumento acentuado de pesquisas voltadas à alelopatia vegetal (Felito et al, 2015;Paula et al, 2015;Oliveira et al, 2016;Malheiros et al, 2016;Carvalho et al, 2016;Kremer et al, 2016;Anese et al, 2016;Gonçalves et al, 2016;Bruno et al, 2021) e na escassez de relatos que evidenciem efeitos de alelopatia química presente na H. brasiliensis e, como observação preliminar para compreensão do comportamento da espécie, o presente estudo buscou verificar tal comportamento alelopático na germinação da espécie L. sativa (alface), escolhida por se destacar em bioensaios alelopáticos devido a sensibilidade da espécie à compostos, principalmente na fase de germinação e crescimento inicial das plântulas, sendo considerada uma espécie indicadora (Baruah et al, 1994).…”