Marco Bürger

1 INTRODUCTION Parasitic weeds in the genera Orobanche, Phelipanche (broomrapes) and Striga (witchweeds) pose a substantial challenge to global agricultural productivity (Joel et al., 2007; Parker, 2012; Rubiales, 2020).

Abstract Strigolactones (SLs) are carotenoid-derived compounds that regulate various aspects of plant development, physiological responses and plant interactions with microorganisms.

1. Introduction Copper and silver, two prominent elements among the coinage metals group, possess remarkable properties in their bulk form such as very low electrical resistivity (16.78 nΩ−1 m−1 and 15.9 nΩ−1 m−1, respectively) and thermal conductivity (398 W/m K and 429 W/m K, respectively) [1,2,3]. Especially in the form of thin films, they can be considered as an essential component in various electronic, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic applications [4,5,6,7].