Weeds have been a major threat in agriculture for several generations as they lead to decreases in productivity and cause significant economic losses. Parasitic plants are a specific type of weed causing losses in crops of great relevance. A new strategy has emerged in the fight against parasitic plants, which is called 'suicidal germination' or the 'honey-pot strategy'. Regarding the problem of weed control from an ecological point of view, it is interesting to investigate new natural compounds with allelopathic activity with the aim of developing new natural herbicides that can inhibit the growth of weeds without damaging the environment. Safflower crops have been affected by parasitic plants and weeds and, as a consequence, the secondary metabolites exuded by safflower roots have been studied. The sesquiterpene lactone dehydrocostuslactone was isolated and characterised, and the structurally related costunolide was identified by UHPLC-MS/MS in safflower root exudates. These sesquiterpene lactones have been shown to stimulate germination of Phelipanche ramosa and Orobanche cumana seeds. In addition, these compounds were phytotoxic on three important weeds in agriculture, namely Lolium perenne, Lolium rigidum and Echinochloa crus-galli. The exudation of the strigolactones solanacol and fabacyl acetate have also been confirmed by UHPLC-MS/MS. The study reported here contributes to our knowledge of the ecological role played by some secondary metabolites. Moreover, this knowledge could help identify new models for the development of future agrochemicals based on natural products.
Keywords: Allelopathy; LC-MS/MS; Parasitic plant; Phytotoxic bioassay; Sesquiterpene lactones; Strigolactones.