Page 3 - Volume 6, Issue 2, July 2013
Basic HTML Version
© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
1
Institute of Plant Protection of Thessaloniki, NA-
GREF, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter-
GREECE, P.O. Box 60458, GR-570 01 Thermi, Thessalo-
niki, Greece.
2
Agricultural Research Centre of Northern Greece,
Department of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, NA-
GREF, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter-
GREECE, P.O. Box 60458, GR-570 01 Thermi, Thessalo-
niki, Greece.
Corrersponding author:
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
6:
49-54, 2013
Herbicidal effects of
Satureja hortensis
L. and
Melissa officinalis
L.
essential oils on germination and root length of
Lollium rigidum
L.
and
Phalaris brachystachys
L. grass weeds
T.K. Gitsopoulos
1
, P. Chatzopoulou
2
and I. Georgoulas
1
Summary
The herbicidal effect of
Satureja hortensis
L. and
Melissa officinalis
L. essential oils was test-
ed on germination and root length of two grass weed species,
Lollium rigidum
L. and
Phalaris brachys-
tachys
L., under laboratory conditions. Carvacrol and citral were the main constituents of the essential
oil of
S. hortensis
and
M. officinalis
, respectively.
Melissa officinalis
essential oil showed higher inhibito-
ry effect on germination and root length of
L. rigidum
and
Ph. brachystachys
, respectively. The phytoto-
toxic effects were more pronounced on the latter weed species.
Additional keywords
: allelopathy, carvacrol, geranial, neral
Introduction
The continuous use of the synthetic herbi-
cides for weed control apart from their high
efficacy, selectivity and relatively inexpen-
sive cost tomanufacture has raised concerns
about their potential health and environ-
mental impact (Dayan
et al.,
2009) and the
development of herbicide resistance among
weed species (Batish
et al.,
2004). Natural
compounds with practical use as biocon-
trol agents are increasingly adopted in agri-
culture (Dayan
et al.,
1999; Duke
et al.,
2002;
Singh
et al.,
2003). Essential oils obtained
from aromatic plants have been reported
to exhibit herbicidal activity against seed
germination (Muller
et al.,
1964; Vaughn &
Spencer, 1993; Dudai
et al.,
1999). For exam-
ple, it has been demonstrated that the es-
sential oils of various aromatic plants, such
as
Carum carvi
L. (Apiaceae),
Mentha spica-
ta
L. (Lamiaceae),
Origanum vulgare
L. (Lami-
aceae),
Thymbra spicata
L. (Lamiaceae)
, Oci-
mum basilicum
L. (Lamiaceae),
Lavandula
spp.
(Lamiaceae) and other members o
f La-
miaceae
inhibited seed germination and/or
root elongation of various weed species and
crops (Vaughn & Spencer, 1993; Dudai
et al.,
1999; Angelini
et al.,
2003; Vasilakoglou
et
al.,
2007; Argyropoulos
et al.,
2008; Azirak &
Karaman, 2008).
Lemon balm (
Melissa officinalis
L.) is a pe-
rennial plant that belongs to
Lamiaceae
fam-
ily, native to southern Europe and the Medi-
terranean region (Simon
et al.,
1984). Lemon
balm has been used in medicine, food, per-
fume and cosmetic industry (Simon
et al.,
1984; Tagashira & Ohtake, 1998; Duke
et al.,
2002; De Almeida
et al.,
2010). De Almeida
et
al.
(2010) found that the essential oil of
M. of-
ficinalis
was one of the four most active oils
against both germination and radicle elon-
gation of
Raphanus sativus
L. (Brassicaceae),
Lactuca sativa
L. (Asteraceae)
and
Lepidium
sativum
L. (Brassicaceae).
The genus
Satureja
L. (Lamiaceae) com-
prises numerous species growing wild in the
Mediterranean area (Beziĉ
et al.,
2005). In Eu-
rope, summer savory (
S. hortensis
L.) and
winter savory (
S. montana
L.) are the most
important species for cultivation (Askun
et
al.,
2012). Previous studies have revealed an-
tioxidant, antibacterial, antifungidal activ-
