Antifungal activity of plant extracts with potential to control plant pathogens in pineapple

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of extracts, resins, oils and mother tinctures from plants against the filamentous fungi Fusarium guttiforme (F. guttiforme) and Chalara paradoxa, and to evaluate the control of the pineapple fusariosis in situ using mother tinctures. Methods: The screening of the antifungal potential of 131 extract forms from 63 plant species was performed in vitro by using plate-hole method. To control pineapple fusariosis in situ, preventive and post-infection treatments were performed on detached pineapple leaves of cv. Perola (susceptible). Results: The quantitative study indicated that among the 49 mother tincture samples analyzed, 46% were effective against F. guttiforme and 29% for the Chalara paradoxa. The natural plant extracts, mother tincture of Glycyrrhiza glabra (MTGG1), mother tincture of Myroxylon balsamum (MTBT2), mother tincture of Aloe vera (MTAV3), mother tincture of Allium sativum (MTAS4), resin of Protium heptaphyllum (RESAM5) and crude extracts of Rhizophora mangle (CEMV6), exhibited an antifungal activity against F. guttiforme. In the preventive treatment against pineapple fusariosis, MTAV3, MTAS4 and MTGG1 were statistically similar to the treatment with tebuconazol fungicide. The curative treatments with MTAV3, MTAS4, MTGG1 and MTBT2 presented similar activity to fungicide (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The findings of the present study concluded that mother tinctures can effectively control phytopathogens. The mother tincture extract of Myroxylon balsamum showed antifungal activity and was used here for the first time for inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi. This study paves the way for the development of bioactive natural products with phytosanitary applications, with the added benefits of an environmentally safe and economically viable product.