Abstract
In order to reduce the use of chemical pesticides, great interest has been focused on environment-friendly biological control agents and botanicals that preserve biodiversity. In this context, our study aimed to assess the antifungal and herbicidal activities of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil (EO) to find an alternative to synthetic pesticides. The chemical composition of R. officinalis essential oil was determined by gaz chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). Results showed that R. officinallis EO was rich in monoterpenes and the major constituents were 1,8-cineole (54.6%), camphor (12.27%) and α-pinene (7.09%). However, under laboratory conditions, two tests were carried out. The first one consisted on the study of EO antifungal activity using ELISA microplates and the second one consisted on evaluating the effect of EO on seedling growth of weeds. It was confirmed that this EO significantly inhibits spore germination of Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium culmorum, Penicillium italicum and at 6 mM, the percentage of inhibition reached 100% on Fusarium oxysporum. Indeed, EO slows down seedling growth of Trifolium incarnatum, Silybum marianum, and Phalaris minor. In fact, EO at 5 mM completely inhibits seed germination. On the other hand, another experiment was carried out to evaluate the herbicidal activity by spraying EO on weeds. This showed that a novel herbicide formulation was set up for the first time to improve the activity of R. officinalis EO on post-emergence. Overall, R. officinalis EO can be suggested as a potential eco-friendly pesticide and suitable source of natural compounds potentially usable as natural pesticides.
Highlights
Agricultural production has always been threatened by the presence of plant pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses (Kordali et al, 2016)
Plant material and essential oil extraction In March 2014, R. officinalis plants, which belong to the Lamiacae family, were collected at the flowering stage in a naturally diversified mountain of the Seliana region in the northeast of Tunisia
The R. officinalis essential oil (EO) was characterized by the predominance of the monoterpene class, among which 1,8 cineole, camphor, and α-pinene were the most present
Summary
Agricultural production has always been threatened by the presence of plant pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses (Kordali et al, 2016) Approximately 2.5 million tons of pesticides are used on crops worldwide to fight plant diseases (Koul et al, 2008) with consequences on human health, soils and the environment (groundwater contamination and development of weed resistance). This intensive use has been recognized as one of the main drivers of biodiversity losses (Schütte et al, 2017). In the last few decades, there has been growing interest in investigating eco-friendly alternatives, in particular essential oil (EO)-based methods in order to curtail pesticide use because pesticides cause extensive damage to agricultural and natural systems
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