Exploiting the Allelopathic Potential of Aqueous Leaf Extracts of Artemisia absinthium and Psidium guajava against Parthenium hysterophorus, a Widespread Weed in India

Abstract

Artemisia absinthium and Psidium guajava are powerful sources of secondary metabolites, some of them with potential allelopathic activity. Both the species grow together in India with a weed (Parthenium hysterophorus) that is becoming extremely invasive. The aim of the present research was to test the allelopathic effect of A. absinthium and P. guajava aqueous leaf extracts on seed germination, seedling growth (shoot and root length), as well as some biochemical parameters (enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, photosynthetic pigments, osmolytes, and malondialdehyde by-products) of P. hysterophorus plants. Leaf extracts of both A. absinthium and P. guajava constrained the germination and seedling development (root and shoot length), affected pigment content (chlorophylls, carotenoids), stimulated the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and increased the level of malondialdehyde by-products of P. hysterophorus plants. Non-enzymatic antioxidants (glutathione and ascorbic acid) in P. hysterophorus leaves were, conversely, negatively affected by both leaf extracts tested in the present experiment. Although A. absinthium was more effective than P. guajava in impacting some biochemical parameters of P. hysterophorus leaves (including a higher EC50 for seed germination), P. guajava extract showed a higher EC50 in terms of root inhibition of P. hysterophorus seedlings. The present study provides the evidence that A. absinthium and P. guajava extract could be proficiently exploited as a botanical herbicide against P. hysterophorus.

Phytotoxic Potential and Phenolic Profile of Extracts from Scrophularia striata

“…The concentrations interfered, inversely and proportionally, while reducing the germination rate [ 65 ]. A previous study was conducted on the phytotoxic potentials of aqueous leaf extracts obtained from Artemisia absinthium L. and Psidium guajava L. Evaluations were aimed at various effects on seed germination, plantlet development, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, photosynthetic pigments, and osmolytes of Parthenium hysterophorus L. Leaf extracts of both A. absinthium and P. guajava acted to limit seed germination and plantlet development, but increased antioxidant enzyme activities [ 66 ].…”

Bioherbicidal Activity and Metabolic Profiling of Potent Allelopathic Plant Fractions Against Major Weeds of Wheat—Way Forward to Lower the Risk of Synthetic Herbicides

“…Aqueous extracts of R. communis, T. aestivum, and S. bicolor have also been employed for weed suppression (Wu et al, 2001;Mahmood et al, 2013;Naz and Bano, 2014;Saadaoui et al, 2015;Renathielly et al, 2016;Al-Samarai et al, 2018;Eassa et al, 2018;Storozhyk et al, 2019), but their methanolic extracts have not been investigated as yet. Water extracts of different species of artemisia were also used as a bio-control agent against weeds (Lydon et al, 1997;Barney et al, 2005;Onen, 2013;Kapoor et al, 2019;Benarab et al, 2020); but allelopathy of A. santolinifolia is still to be established. Moreover, the detailed allelochemical profiling of these species is also lacking.…”

Allelopathic Potential of Haloxylon persicum against Wheat and Black Mustard with Special Reference to Its Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity

“…Although there is a number of plants that have been reported for potential weed control in economically important crops [22][23][24], a lot needs to be done to find high efficiency and more targeted weed control allelopathic plants [22,23,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. Deserts have a vast resource of native plants rich in bioactive metabolites (e.g., alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenols), produced by plants under an extremely harsh environment [31,32].…”