Introduction: Compared to synthetic herbicides, natural products with allelochemical properties can inhibit weed germination, aiding agricultural output with less phytotoxic residue in water and soil.
Objectives: To identify natural product extracts of three Cassia species; C. javanica, C. roxburghii, and C. fistula and to investigate the possible phytotoxic and allelopathic potential.
Methods: Allelopathic activity of three Cassia species extracts was evaluated. To further investigate the active constituents, untergated metabolomics using UPLC-qTOF-MS/MS and ion-identity molecular networking (IIMN) approach was performed to identify and determine the distribution of metabolites in different Cassia species and plant parts.
Results: We observed in our study that the plant extracts showed consistent allelopathic activity against seed germination (P < 0.05) and the inhibition of shoot and root development of Chenopodium murale in a dose-dependent manner. Our comprehensive study identified at least 127 compounds comprising flavonoids, coumarins, anthraquinones, phenolic acids, lipids, and fatty acid derivatives. We also report the inhibition of seed germination, shoot growth, and root growth when treated with enriched leaf and flower extracts of C. fistula, and C. javanica, and the leaf extract of C. roxburghii.
Conclusion: The present study recommends further evaluation of Cassia extracts as a potential source of allelopathic compounds in agricultural systems.
Keywords: Allelopathic; Anthraquinones; Cassia; GNPS; Metabolomics; UPLC-qTOF-MS/MS.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.