Antifungal Activity and Phytochemical Screening of Vernonia amygdalina Extract against Botrytis cinerea Causing Gray Mold Disease on Tomato Fruits

Abstract

Gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea is a damaging postharvest disease in tomato plants, and it is known to be a limiting factor in tomato production. This study aimed to evaluate antifungal activities of Vernonia amygdalina leaf extracts against B. cinerea and to screen the phytochemical compound in the crude extract that had the highest antifungal activity. In this study, crude extracts of hexane, dichloromethane, methanol, and water extracts with concentration levels at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 mg/mL were shown to significantly affect the inhibition of B. cinerea. Among the crude extracts, dichloromethane extract was shown to be the most potent in terms of antifungal activities. The SEM observation proved that the treatment altered the fungal morphology, which leads to fungal growth inhibition. For the in vivo bioassay, the fruits treated with dichloromethane extract at 400 and 500 mg/mL showed the lowest disease incidence with mild severity of infection. There were 23 chemical compounds identified in V. amygdalina dichloromethane extract using GCMS analysis. The top five major compounds were dominated by squalene (16.92%), phytol (15.05%), triacontane (11.31%), heptacosane (7.14%), and neophytadiene (6.28%). Some of these significant compounds possess high antifungal activities. This study proved that V. amygdalina from dichloromethane extract could be useful for inhibiting gray mold disease on tomato fruit and has potential as a natural antifungal agent.

Postharvest disease management of Alternaria spots on tomato fruit by Annona muricata fruit extracts

“…Wrinkled, shrivelled, deformed and ruptured hyphae and conidia were observed when phytopathogenic fungi like A. alternata , Macrophoma phaseoloni and Fusarium species were treated with plant extracts ( Otibi and Rizwana, 2019 ). According to previous reports, bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenols, polyphenols, ketones and aromatic compounds are lipophilic in nature and hence can easily diffuse through the cell membrane, disturbing cellular stability ( Yusoff et al, 2020 ). These compounds interfere with the ABC transport system; inhibit the synthesis of ergosterol, ATP and aminoacyl tRNA synthetase leading to cellular dysfunction and impair sterol metabolism, which eventually causes leakage from fungal cells, plasmolysis and cell lysis ( Rosen and Stein Gold, 2016 , Yusoff et al, 2020 ).…”

“…According to previous reports, bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenols, polyphenols, ketones and aromatic compounds are lipophilic in nature and hence can easily diffuse through the cell membrane, disturbing cellular stability ( Yusoff et al, 2020 ). These compounds interfere with the ABC transport system; inhibit the synthesis of ergosterol, ATP and aminoacyl tRNA synthetase leading to cellular dysfunction and impair sterol metabolism, which eventually causes leakage from fungal cells, plasmolysis and cell lysis ( Rosen and Stein Gold, 2016 , Yusoff et al, 2020 ). Hence, the morphological aberrations of hyphae and conidia, as well as the marked reduction in spore formation observed in our study, could be due to the abundance of several bioactive compounds in Am extracts, leading to the anomalies as observed by SEM.…”

Evaluation of Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Moringa oleifera Lam. and Cyanthillium cinereum (Less) H. Rob. Lozenges in Volunteer Smokers

“…H. Rob. (CC) has various medicinal properties such as analgesic, anti-pyretic [ 39 ], anti-bacterial [ 40 ], and anti-fungal activities [ 41 ]. In addition, CC decreases cigarette craving in smokers [ 42 , 43 ] and provides anti-inflammation and anti-microbial biological activity [ 44 ].…”

Sensitivity of Botrytis cinerea Isolates Complex to Plant Extracts

“…The sensitivity of pathogens to active compounds from plants has been described to some extent in the literature [ 2 , 7 , 14 , 15 ]. Morphological changes in fungal structures were observed after treatment with alternative antifungal compounds: salt solutions [ 16 ], zinc oxide nanoparticles [ 6 ], specific light spectrum [ 17 ], essential oils [ 1 ] or extracts [ 18 ], and their active components [ 19 ]. As demand for the replacement of synthetic fungicides is extremely high [ 14 ], in vitro antifungal studies should be expanded/continued to group plant materials according to their antifungal effect on the pathogen complex.…”