A Review of the Efficacy of Medicinal Plants as Good Anti-Infection Agents

Abstract

Fungicides should be used to prevent plants against numerous plant-attacking pathogens in order to support the agriculture sector and raise food production, which often results in the ubiquitous usage of synthetic chemicals. Crops are more vulnerable to diseases when they are in the post-harvest stages. However, these compounds have some major drawbacks, such as harm to human health, bad environmental conditions, disease resistance to fungicides, etc. This results in identifying compounds derived from plants that can be used in managing disease control. Plants have a wide variety of compounds that can be isolated and applied in a variety of ways, one of which is treating damaged plants. These substances are collectively referred to as secondary metabolites because, despite playing an equally significant role, they do not play a part in the growth and development of plants. These secondary metabolites cover a wide range, including glycosides, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, and saponins. Several approaches are present to extract the phytochemicals from plants without disrupting their functional groups or qualities that let them target the pathogens. Plant-based fungicides have long highlighted the variety of plant species that shield the flora from pathogens without harming the plant system. This review paper focuses on how several medicinal plant families proved to be strong anti-infection agents.