Antifungal activity of Mexican endemic plants on agricultural phytopathogens: a review

摘要

Fruits, vegetables and cereals are susceptible products to pathogenic fungi attack that cause diseases. Traditionally, chemical treatments are used to prevent the appearance of plagues in the field; however, they have a negative impact on the environment and they cause the emergence of resistant strains. There are secondary metabolites biosynthesized by plants that currently provide new sources of pest control, are biodegradable and have selective activity due to the combination of bioactive compounds. In Mexico, the diversity of endemic plants shows an added value because they have medicinal properties and antifungal capacity. For example, the most common and important plants as Larrea tridentata, Eysenhardtia polystachya, Flourensia spp., Lippia graveolans, Acaciella angustissima, Jatropha cuneata, Agave lechuguilla, Yucca filifera and Opuntia ficus-indica contain oils, phenols, tannins, flavonoids, terpenes, saponins, alkaloids and other metabolites in different concentrations that can be utilized against problematic fungi as Fusarium oxysporum, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium cepivorum, Phytophthora cinnamon and Phytophthora capsici which cause damage to the most economically important crops and the agricultural production in our country. This study is centered in the knowledge about the vegetative part with antifungal activity, the extraction method for plant metabolite (methanol, ethanol, water, dichloromethane and organic solvents) and the maximum inhibitor concentration to avoid almost 100% in vitro mycelia growth, in such a way that this can be applied in vivo on a large scale instead of using synthetic fungicides that are harmful for soils and living organisms. Also, it is necessary to search a big variety of compounds that interact with pathogenic fungi components which are different in each species (even strains) and to develop new biotechnological strategies, as in vitro plant cultures, to obtain metabolites in high quantities.