Essential oil chemical characterization and allelopathic potential of Artemisia Campestris L growing in Tunisia

Abstract

The present study investigated the chemical composition and allelopathic potential of volatile oil from Artemisia campestris originating from Tunisia against four species: Daucus carota, Cicer arietinum, Phaseolus vulgaris and Triticum sativum. The essential oil was extracted using the hydrodistillation method and its composition was analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Furthermore, the essential oil was tested for its inhibitory effect on seed germination of the four precited species. According to the main results, Artemisia campestris essential oil was rich in monoterpenoids and a total of 27 components were identified, accounting for 95.5% of the whole oil. Furthermore, β-pinene (35.0%) and 1, 8-cineole (14.4%) were the two major constituents. The volatile oil was evaluated for its allelopathic potential against the four fore-mentioned species. We noted a significant reduction in germination for all the tested species at 1000 ppm and 2000 ppm concentrations. However, an increase was noticed at the lowest concentration (100 ppm). Moreover, there was a delay in germination for D. carota seeds and this delay was proportional to the essential oil concentration. It is worthy to notice that Artemisia campestris essential oil exhibited allelopathic properties against the tested species and particularly against D. carota.