MICROWAVE-ASSISTED EXTRACTION AND HERBICIDAL POTENTIAL OF CINNAMIC ACID FROM CINNAMON USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY (RSM)

Abstract

Weeds reduce crop yields, and therefore, proper control measures are required and inevitable to control the actions of weeds on agricultural yield. The synthetic or man-made types of herbicides are mostly used and are hazardous to both human and environment. Thus, the need to develop natural herbicides. This study explored the use of Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique for the extraction of cinnamic acid and reported the effects of the extraction parameters (ethanol percentage, microwave power, and extraction time), based on response surface methodology (RSM), on extraction yield. A microwave power of 160 W, 70.45% ethanol concentration and extraction time of 1 min resulted in a cinnamic acid yield of 8.66842 mg/ 100 mg cinnamon flour. The extracted cinnamic acid was able to show strong allelopathic character and wither the weed applied on within 5 days. MAE is an efficient technique for cinnamic acid extraction and provides the foundation for subsequent research about its application as a biodegradable herbicide.