The objective of this study was to determine the existence of allelopathic activity of different ethanolic extracts of the leaves and bark of Anadenathera macrocarpa (angico-preto) on the germination and development of tomato, pepper and maize seedlings. For the bioassays, concentrations of 0, 250, 500 and 1,000 mg mL-1 were used. Fifty seeds of each plant species were used to evaluate daily germination and ten seedlings were used to evaluate growth. The primary root growth of the maize was stimulated by the 250 mg mL-1 concentration of the leaf extract and in the presence of the bark extract the growth was linear. The germination speed index and germination percentage increased when using the concentrations of 615.8 and 724.4 mg mL-1, respectively. The concentration of 654.9 mg mL-1 increased the hypocotyl length and that of 628.1 mg mL-1 increased the radicle length of pepper. The length of the tomato radicle was influenced by the concentrations; it was shorter as the concentration increased. Therefore, although acting differently on each species, the ethanolic extracts of the leaves and the bark have allelopathic potential since they interfered with the germination profile and growth of the plants tested.

Keywords: Secondary metabolites, Angico-preto, Solanum lycopersicum, Capsicum annuum, Zea mays