Phenolic Composition and Allelopathy of Libidibia ferrea Mart. ex Tul. in Weeds

Considering the need to produce effective bioherbicides to control weeds and thus reduce the contamination of environments through the use of agrochemicals in control of these plants, the scientific community has been studying the allelopathic activity of several species of Caatinga, once studies indicate that some species of this biome presentind to have activity allelopathic about other plants. On this, the present study aimed to evaluate the allelopathic potential and phenolic composition of extracts of Libidibia ferrea Mart. ex Tul. on seed germination and seedling development of Calotropis procera (Aiton) WT Aiton. and Cenchrus echinatus L. For the allelopathy test, leaf, bark and root extracts, both hot (100 °C) and cold (25 °C), were used, followed by a control group (distilled H2O). Phytochemical prospecting was performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that the hot L. ferrea bark extract has allelopathic activity on C. procera and C. echinatus, which was observed in all parameters analyzed. The phytochemical results showed that L. ferrea extracts present several phenolic compounds which are possibly responsible for the results observed against the two weed species studied, with standing out Gallic acid, Catechin, Caffeic acid, Ellagic acid, and Quercetin. It is therefore necessary to isolate these compounds in view of a potential future use for L. ferrea extracts in the production of a bioherbicide.