Abstract
Persicaria acuminata (Polygonaceae) is a perennial herb that grows in the central area of Argentina and it is commonly used by native populations to heal infected wounds and other conditions related to fungal infections. In this article, we explored the in vitro antifungal activity of its ethyl acetate extract against a panel of three fruit phytopathogenic fungi including: Penicillium digitatum, P. italicum, and Monilinia fructicola. The sesquiterpenes isolated from the extract were also evaluated against these strains, demonstrating that the dialdehyde polygodial was the responsible for this activity. In order to encourage the use of the extract rather than the pure compound, we displayed ex vivo assays using fresh oranges and peaches inoculated with P. digitatum and M. fructicola, respectively, and subsequently treated by immersion with an extract solution of 250 and 62.5 µg/mL, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatments with commercial fungicides and the extract over the control of both fruit rots. The concentration of the active compound present in the extract used on fruit experiments was determined by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy. Finally, cytotoxicity evaluation against Huh7 cells showed that P. acuminata extract was less cytotoxic than the commercial fungicides at the assayed concentrations. After these findings we could conclude that a chemically characterized extract of P. acuminata should be further developed to treat fungal diseases in fruits from an agro-ecological model.
Highlights
Plant diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi are responsible for economic losses arising mainly from crop yield reduction, and resulting from diminished product quality and safety; sometimes they represent a risk for human and animal health due to food contamination and the accumulation of toxic residues in the environment
The three extracts obtained from dried-leaves of P. acuminata were evaluated for their antifungal activities against P. digitatum, P. italicum, and M. fructicola using the micro broth dilution assay (Table 1)
We explored the in vitro antifungal activity of different extracts obtained from the leaves of P. acuminata
Summary
Plant diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi are responsible for economic losses arising mainly from crop yield reduction, and resulting from diminished product quality and safety; sometimes they represent a risk for human and animal health due to food contamination and the accumulation of toxic residues in the environment. Different naturally occurring compounds [3], semisynthetic derivatives [4], chitosan-based formulations [5], and plant products, including extracts [6] or essential oils [7], have been reported as part of this strategy. Penicillium digitatum (Pers.) Sacc causes green mold rot disease, which is the most important post-harvest disease of citrus fruit worldwide. The high number of pre- and post-harvest application of chemical fungicides has caused the development of P. digitatum resistant strains to several chemical groups [11]. The control of green mold without the application of chemical fungicides has been recently reviewed [11] and among these non-chemical treatments, natural compounds, irradiations, hot water treatments, salts, and biocontrol agents constitute promising strategies for P
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