Antifungal activity of fruit leaves extracts against fungal plant pathogens

What is it about?

Methanolic extracts of leaves of thompson seedless grape, flame seedless grape, zizyphus, pomegranate and fig were screened for their phytochemical constituents and also investigated for their antifungal activity in vitro against phytopathogenic fungi, Alternaria solani, Botrytis cinerea, Botrytis fabae, Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani. Phytochemical screening of crude methanolic extracts revealed the presence of terpenes, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrate or glycosides, phenolic glycosides and resins in all extracts, while saponins were not detected from any extracts except zizyphus and fig. Zizyphus leaves had the highest concentration of total polyphenols and total flavonoids content. HPLC analysis identified twelve polyphenolic compounds. The methanolic extract of zizyphus leaves had the greatest inhibitory effect on mycelial growth of B. fabae at 4 mg/ml. Also, extract of pomegranate caused remarkable reduction on the fungal growth of B. fabae at 4 mg/ml. F. oxysporum and F. solani were the most resistant fungi against all methanolic extracts tested.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Present activities to find both natural and synthetic fungicides focus on finding compounds that are safe to humans, environment and delicate ecosystems.

Perspectives