Natural products as allelochemicals. Part 10 - Dehydrozaluzanin C: a potent plant growth regulator with potential use as a natural herbicide template

The natural product dehydrozaluzanin C (former DHZ) is a sesquiterpene lact one obtained from different weeds of the Compositae family. Its potential a s a plant growth regulator has been evaluated by using a phytotoxic allelop athic bioassay, where the commercial herbicide Logran(R) is used as interna l reference. The evaluation is made based on their effects on germination a nd growth over several dicotyledon and monocotyledon species. The activity was tested in the range of 1000-0.001 mu M. In almost all cases, DHZ was mo re active than the internal reference at 1000 mu M, and its activity fell b elow the level of the internal reference at 100 mu M. These results confirm DHZ as a potent plant growth regulator and a good candidate for the develo pment of new herbicide models. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. AII rights re served.