Phytochemical Screening, Bioactive Compound Quantification by HPLC, and Antifungal Properties of Andrographis paniculata Extracts Against Plant Pathogenic Fungi

Abstract

The common issues that occurred in plant disease had been studied for many years and fungi were determined as the major microbial agent that typically reduces the crop yield quality and economic losses. The increasing of antimicrobial resistance fungi and chemical fungicides has urged the development of new antifungal agents from medicinal plants such as Andrographis paniculata which is riches in phytochemical compounds. Hence, this research was carried out to investigate the phytochemical compounds and antifungal properties of a botanical extract derived from A. paniculata to inhibit fungal growth. A maceration technique was used where the extracts were soaked in methanol solvent at room temperature (±28°C) for 72 hours. The prepared samples were studied for phytochemical screening, and it shows the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids. Whereas the quantitative estimation of andrographolide compound was conducted by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The antifungal test was tested on Fusarium spp., Colletotrichum spp., Neoscytalidium dimidiatum, and Thielaviopsis paradoxa through agar disc diffusion. The result revealed that it exhibits significant fungal growth inhibition. Therefore, this study presented the versatile use of A. paniculata extract in developing its role as a novel broad-spectrum antifungal agent against plant disease.