Fungicidal potential of leaf extracts of Datura metel L.to control Sclerotium rolfii Sacc.
Fungicidal potential of leaf extracts of Datura metel L.to control Sclerotium rolfii Sacc.
- Author(s) Nadia Jabeen, Iqra Haider Khan and Arshad Javaid
- Year: 2022
- Month: May
- Volume: 56
- Pages: 59-68
Sclerotium rolfii Sacc. causes collar rot disease in bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) that results in significant yield losses. Since use of fungicides causes environmental pollution and health hazards, therefore, an alternative environment friendly strategy was used to control this pathogen. Methanolic leaf extract of weed Datura metel L. (family Solanaceae), was evaluated for its efficacy in controlling in-vitro growth of S. rolfii. Extract concentrations ranging from 0.5 % to 4.0 %, significantly controlled the fungal growth by 29-88 % over control. Based on the polarity, various constituents of methanolic leaf extract were partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. Bioassays with 3.125 to 200 mg mL-1 concentrations of these fractions revealed that chloroform fraction was the most antifungal followed by ethyl acetate fraction that reduced the biomass of S. rolfsii by 36-47 % and 5-43 %, respectively. The best antifungal chloroform fraction was subjected to GC-MS analysis to identify its antifungal constituents. A total of 19 compounds were identified in this fraction. The most abundant compound were 1-hexacosanol (12.87 %), 1-octadecene (10.69 %), 2-methyl-3-phenyl-2-propenal (8.72 %), 1-eicosanol (6.80 %). 1-heptadecene (6.66 %), 1-octadecanol (6.62 %), 1,3(15),10-bisabolatriene (6.41 %) and 1,6,10-farnesatrien-3-ol (6.38 %). This study concluded that chloroform soluble fraction of methanolic leaf extract contained potent antifungal compounds to control S. rolfsii.
