Efficiency assessment of the antifungal metabolites from Sclerotium cepivorum against onion white rot disease

What is it about?

The inhibitory effects of secondary metabolites of Sclerotium cepivorum against itself were studied both in vitro and in vivo. The highest inhibition of fungal growth and a 98.6% reduction in the number of sclerotia was obtained with 50% culture filtrate. No sclerotial germination was observed on media amended with culture filtrates at 10, 25 and 50%. Methanol extract of mycelia and sclerotia, and ethyl acetate extract of culture filtrate both exhibited over 90% inhibition of S. cepivorum growth at 1200 ppm. All extracts completely suppressed the formation and germination of sclerotia at 400, 800 and 1200 ppm. In greenhouse experiments, no disease was observed with the ethyl acetate extract when onion seedlings were dipped in the extract for 4 or 8 h. The GC-MS analysis revealed 28 compounds in the methanol extract. The methanol extract contained mainly hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, whereas 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, HMF was the main constituent of the ethyl acetate extract.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The results suggest that the secondary metabolites of S. cepivorum are potential and promising antifungal agents for the control of onion white rot. These results can be also applied to reduce the incidence and severity of other diseases in different crops.

Perspectives