One obstacle to understanding allelopathic interactions from sugarcane field residue is the lack of information concerning the identity of the active chemical species present. Phenolic acids are universally distributed in plants and are believed to have allelopathic properties in some varieties of sugarcane.The objective of this research is to determine the presence of phenolic acids and other compounds in a sugarcane field residue extract. Methods were developed for high performance chromatography (HPLC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC), silica gel, and ion chromatography (IC) to analyze for four different organic acid standards, namely ferulic, vanillic, syringic, and p-coumaric acids, in the sugarcane field residue extract. The HPLC method employed a C18 column and gradient elution with methanol / phosphate buffer (20mM at pH 2.5) as the mobile phase. Ion chromatography with a KOH buffer and an ion exchange column with conductivity detection were also utilized for characterization of the sugarcane field residue extract. Further results will be discussed on the findings of phenolic acids and other compounds present in the sugarcane leachate residue. Future studies will determine if the concentration of allelopathic chemicals vary by sugarcane variety.

Determination of allelopathic compounds in sugarcane field residue extracts

255th National Meeting (2018)

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