Exploring the bio-control efficacy of Artemisia fragrans essential oil on the perennial weed Convolvulus arvensis: Inhibitory effects on the photosynthetic machinery and induction of oxidative stress

Abstract Convolvulus arvensis L. (Convolvulaceae), also known as ‘field bindweed’, is a cosmopolitan weed causing important loss in crop productivity and yield worldwide. Many efforts have been made to control this weed using chemical herbicides. Thus, its eradication represents an important challenge from an economic perspective. In this respect, plant essential oils have been recently exploited as bio-herbicides due to their documented allelopathic effects. The present study was aimed to examine the possible application of the essential oil of Artemisia fragrans Willd. (Asteraceae) as a bio-herbicide to control field bindweed. Two distinct Petri dish and pot-based experiments were carried out to assess the phytotoxicity of A. fragrans essential oil. The main essential oil components detected by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were α-thujone (30.4 %), camphor (26.4 %), 1,8-cineole (12.6 %) and β-thujone (10.0 %). The growth and content of photosynthetic pigments in field bindweed were reduced as a function of the increasing concentrations of the essential oil in both Petri and pot experiments. Furthermore, the chlorophyll a fluorescence as a key parameter was negatively affected when the essential oil treatment was applied. Also, exposure to essential oil altered the activity of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), enhanced the level of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA) and caused cellular electrolyte leakage. In conclusion, the essential oil of A. fragrans has noteworthy potential as a growth and photosynthesis disruptor as well as an oxidative stress inducer against field bindweed. Thus, this plant species may be suggested as a source of bio-herbicides on an industrial level.