Allelopathic potential of Piper aducum L, aiming use of the species as bioherbicide

Abstract

Allelopathy research may aid in the development of natural herbicides, which substitute synthetic
chemical inputs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the allelopathic potential
of aqueous extracts from leaf and root of Piper aduncum, in order to verify the possibility of
using this species as bioherbicide. To analyze the allelopathic effect, lettuce seeds were used
as bioindicators organisms. From the concentration 25% of the extract from leaf there was a
significant reduction in the germination speed index of the seeds. We observed that the action
of the extracts from leaf and root interfered in the growth of the seedlings, being observed a
decrease of the root length according as increase in concentrations of the extract from leaf. In
conclusion, the extract from leaf of P. aduncum presents greater inhibitory allelopathic potential,
and can be used in research that aimed to formulate of bioherbicides.