Antifungal Agents in Agriculture: Friends and Foes of Public Health

Abstract

Fungal diseases have been underestimated worldwide but constitute a substantial threat to several plant and animal species as well as to public health. The increase in the global population has entailed an increase in the demand for agriculture in recent decades. Accordingly, there has been worldwide pressure to find means to improve the quality and productivity of agricultural crops. Antifungal agents have been widely used as an alternative for managing fungal diseases affecting several crops. However, the unregulated use of antifungals can jeopardize public health. Application of fungicides in agriculture should be under strict regulation to ensure the toxicological safety of commercialized foods. This review discusses the use of antifungals in agriculture worldwide, the need to develop new antifungals, and improvement of regulations regarding antifungal use.

Silver Nanoparticles Ecofriendly Synthesized by Achyranthes aspera and Scoparia dulcis Leaf Broth as an Effective Fungicide

“…Nitric oxide is also the most outstanding molecular in antimicrobial applications, but it is extremely susceptive that leads to many difficulties in synthesis, application and storage [8]. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were considered as the better promising alternative due to adapting many requirements such as cost effects, positively environmental impacts and socially sustainable [9,10]. The biosynthesized nanoparticles are formed by an ecofriendly technique or green chemistry.…”

Design and synthesis of novel n-butyphthalide derivatives as promising botanical fungicides

“…Finally, the target compounds 6a-s were prepared by suzuki reaction of compound 5, and compounds 7a-f and 8a-c were synthesized by sulfonylation and acylation reaction of compound 4 (Scheme 2). All the target compounds are new compounds and their structures were characterized by spectrometric methods including 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and high-resolution mass spectra (HRMS).…”

“…When the reaction was complete, as checked by TLC analysis, the solution of the mixture was diluted with AcOEt (30 mL). Subsequently, the solution was washed with water (15 mL), 0.1 N aqueous HCl (25 mL) and brine (25 mL), dried over anhydrous Na 2 SO 4 , concentrated in vacuo, and purified by silica gel column chromatography to give the target products 7a-f and 8a-d, which were characterized by m. p., 1 H NMR, 13 CNMR and HRMS.…”

“…Plant disease is a natural disaster caused by plant pathogenic fungi, which not only tremendously influence the yield and quality of grain, vegetables and fruits, but also some pathogenic fungi can produce carcinogenic, neurotoxic or teratogenic secondary metabolites (such as aflatoxin and zearalenone) in the process of growth and metabolism in the host body. Therefore, the development of novel compounds that effectively inhibit these agricultural diseases is still highly desirable [1]. Phthalides are a relatively small group of natural compounds found in several plant and fungal genera, which usually possess a broad scope of pharmacological and biological activities [2,3], such as the three compounds (Z)-butylidenephthalide (1), n-butylphthalide (2) and (Z)-ligustilide (3) ( Figure 1).…”

Fungicidal and bactericidal activity of alkyl-substituting polyetherguanidines

“…The fungicidal effect of alkyl-containing polyetherguanidinium iodides is probably due to the presence of guanidine moieties and a diphenylolpropane group. It is known that in the molecules of organic substances under the influence of different atoms or atomic groups present in them there is a redistribution of the electronic density of chemical bonds (positive or negative induction effect) [2,3,9].…”