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Introduction to the bioherbicidal effect of plant extracts and weed management

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Bioherbicidal effect of plant extracts and weed management
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1
Introduction to the bioherbicidal effect of plant extracts
and weed management
Manel OUERFELLI
Chemical Engineering Department (DEQ), School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona
(ETSEIB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Av, Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona,
Spain
eeds are annual or perennial plants that grow spontaneously in crops and
multiply by numerous seeds buried in the soil or by underground renewal organs.
These plants compete with the crops for water, nutrients and light, which cause
a decrease in crop yield (Sanbagavalli et al., 2020). Harvesting difficulties and degradation of
harvested product quality are also among the direct impacts of weeds on crops (Yvoz et al.,
2021).
Weed control aims to preserve the cleanliness of the plots. Different methods (thermal,
mechanical) are currently used in field crops for the management of weeds (Alba et al., 2020;
Bauer et al., 2020). However, these methods are not very effective over time. Thus, farmers still
resort to the use of traditional chemical herbicides (Moss, 2019), which are harmful to the
environment and human health (Meftaul et al., 2020). Hence, the public demand for alternative
herbicides, of biological origin (bioherbicide) and more respectful of the environment is
parallelly growing (Scavo et al., 2020).
Chemical herbicides are mainly used in agriculture in the form of commercial
formulations, containing active ingredients and adjuvants in order to increase their efficiency
(Mesnage et al., 2019; Wilms et al., 2020). They are used either in liquid form by aerial
spraying on crops on the ground at recommended agronomic doses, or in the form of coated
granules of the phyto-sanitary molecules and incorporated directly into the soil. These weed-
killer solutions cause the destruction of the biological membranes of target plants by removing
the selectivity of the membrane permeability (Chen et al., 2019), blocking the photosynthesis
by the destruction of chloroplasts (Tucci et al., 2019), disturbing the growth of dicotyledons
(Hu et al., 2019), and blocking the cell division (Xu and Harvey, 2020).
However, chemical herbicides present risks to the environment and human health (Van Bruggen
et al., 2018). Several researches proved that when chemical herbicides are applied to a crop,
W
2
they do not completely reach their target and some of them seep into the soil and cause the
weakness of a variety of living organisms such as bacteria, fungi, earthworms and insects
(Rashidipour et al., 2019). In addition, chemical herbicides can also contaminate the nearby
drinking water sources, which affect the food chain (Tsai, 2019). Moreover, the negative effects
of chemical herbicides on human health have been recognized for a long time (Magnoli et al.,
2020). Malformations, certain cancers, Parkinson's disease and many other have been reported
(Morrison et al., 1992; Gorell et al., 1998; Babalola et al., 2019).
Given the negative impact of chemical herbicides on human health and the
environment, bioherbicides, composed of natural substances derived from plants, represented
a relevant alternative for farmers (Moura et al., 2020). Their short-term effectiveness is often
less efficient than synthetic products but, their persistence in the environment and their eco-
toxicities are often much less important (Hasan et al., 2021). Additionally, by using these
natural active substances, the ecological food chain will be well balanced and the biodiversity
will be well conserved.
Secondary metabolites of plants have been studied for many years for crops protection
(Ben Mrid et al., 2021) and many researches demonstrated that allelopathic compounds
isolated from plants could be used as bio-herbicides against certain weeds (Rob et al., 2019).
Very recently, some publications have shown the bioherbicidal potential of some plant extracts
under controlled conditions (Perveen et al., 2019). These substances have a direct effect
on the germination and growth of neighbouring plants by disrupting several physiological
processes, including photosynthesis, respiration, water and hormonal balance (De Mastro et
al., 2021).
For instance, polyphenols represent an important and diverse group of substances that are
abundant in the leaves, stems, seeds and fruits of many plants (Ligor et al., 2018). These
compounds play an important role in the defense mechanisms of plants against biotic and
abiotic stresses (Singh et al., 2021). They constitute one of the most numerous and
widespread groups of antioxidant substances in the plant kingdom with more than 8 000
phenolic structures (Lund, 2021).
The allelopathic effect of a plant species on another species can be constitutive or
induced and depends on the regulation of the synthesis and release of allele-chemicals,
which are influenced by genetic factors but also by the environmental factors, such as the
temperature, nutrients and irradiation. However, few mechanisms of their production
regulation are currently known and the reproducibility of allelopathic effects under field
conditions is low.
3
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ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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