Allelopathic potential and phenolic allelochemicals discrepancies in Ficus carica L. cultivars

The phytotoxic effect of some tree species could act as an ecological filter through chemical production that influences plant growth of other species. Despite this widespread interest, few studies have investigated the allelopathic effect of some Moraceae species, while this mechanism has not been studied in Ficus carica. To address this research, we attempted to identify the allelopathic mechanisms of thirteen local preserved fig cultivars on the germination and seedling growth of common weeds and standard target species. The results stated that all fig extracts displayed significant phytotoxic impact, and the degree of inhibition was appeared to be dependent on the cultivars and target species. In general, leaf extracts were more toxic and significantly influenced the seedling elongations, as compared to twig extracts. It was clearly marked that the germination and growth of weed species were totally affected by leaf aqueous and methanol extracts of cultivars Kahli and Bouhouli, respectively, at 40 g/L and 6 g/L. The phytochemical analysis through high performance liquid chromatography detected similar profile among cultivars but with a significant disparity in phenolic composition. Among the identified compounds, rutin is the major flavonoid compound recorded in cv. Zidi and was highly accumulated in leaf rather than in twig. It was obvious that the different fig cultivars or even their tissues can be characterized and clustered in three groups based on their allelopathic potential and phenolic compounds.