Abstract
Rutaceae are widely used in ethnomedicine to treat infectious diseases in humans and plants. In this study, the antifungal activity of the Vepris macrophylla leaf essential oil (VEO) and its main components, citral and citronellol, was evaluated against six phytopathogenic fungi. In addition, the possible action of VEO on the synthesis of mycotoxins was evaluated as well. To determine the antifungal activity of VEO we used the agar dilution method and VEO showed inhibitory activity against all the tested fungi. In particular, VEO resulted to be fungicidal against Phytophthora cryptogea and Fusarium avenaceum. For all other fungi VEO exhibited fungistatic activity and the weakest effect was observed on Alternaria solani. Citral was very effective against P. cryptogea, F. avenaceum, F. poae and F. graminearum. On the other hand, citronellol showed good activity towards P. cryptogea and F. avenaceum and weaker activity towards F. poae and F. graminearum. It can be concluded that VEO can be considered a promising antifungal agent, especially against P. cryptogea and F. avenaceum, suggesting a possible use in the formulation of new selective and natural fungicides.
Highlights
Essential oils (EOs) are aromatic oily liquids hydrodistilled from several plant families which are basically made up of volatile secondary metabolites and play a vital role in the protection of plants against various biotic factors [1,2]
The chemical composition of Vepris macrophylla leaf essential oil (VEO) showed a predominance of oxygenated monoterpenes (80.3%) such as citral (56.3%), an isomeric mixture of geranial (33.2%) and neral (23.1%), and citronellol (14.5%), and a lower amount of monoterpene hydrocarbons (10.6%) such as myrcene (8.3%) [16,20]
The VEO was tested against six phytopathogenic fungi from the collection of Botanic Garden of Urbino University—Fusarium strains: F. avenaceum, F. poae, F. graminearum, F. semitectum; Alternaria strain: A. solani; Phytophthora strain: P. cryptogea
Summary
Essential oils (EOs) are aromatic oily liquids hydrodistilled from several plant families which are basically made up of volatile secondary metabolites and play a vital role in the protection of plants against various biotic factors [1,2]. Increasing bacterial resistance boosted scientific research on the antibacterial efficacy of EOs and plant derived compounds, demonstrating their use as food preservatives and their importance in the control of infectious diseases in humans and plants. Taking into account the therapeutic importance of monoterpene compounds, it is relevant to examine the citral as a novel treatment of fungal diseases in humans, animals and in plants. The aim of this work, in continuation of our research on the chemical and antifungal activity of different EOs, was to test the inhibitory effects of VEO and its main compounds citral and citronellol against different phytopathogenic fungal strains such as four strains of Fusarium (F. avenaceum, F. poae, F. graminearum, F. semitectum), one strain of Alternaria (A. solani) and one strain of Phytophthora (P. cryptogea)
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