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The antifungal properties of essential oils (EOs) have attracted considerable attention due to their potential as natural and sustainable alternatives to synthetic fungicides. Their activity can be explored through multiple complementary approaches, each offering valuable insights into their mechanisms of action and possible applications in crop protection.
In this work, a comprehensive dual-mode screening strategy was implemented to evaluate the antifungal potential of the essential oils from sixteen selected aromatic plant species against three major phytopathogenic fungi of economic relevance: Fusarium oxysporum, Botritys cinerea, and Alternaria alternata. These EOs have been obtained from experimentally cultivated plants with stable chemotypes (Navarro-Rocha et al. 2023) and two extraction methods were compared: the hydro distillation extraction by Clevenger apparatus at laboratory scale and the extraction by steam distillation at pilot-scale. This comparison enabled the assessment of both the chemical composition and intrinsic antifungal efficacy of the oils and the impact of extraction methodology on their both properties.
Our results reveal that antifungal activity among essential oils depends on the chemical composition. The thymol–carvacrol and piperitenone oxide-dominant profiles emerged as the most promising candidates for control of phytopathogenic fungi, owing to their distinct yet complementary mechanisms of action. The identification and functional characterization of these chemical profiles therefore provide a rational framework for selecting and formulating EO-based biopesticides. This chemotaxonomic approach enables the matching of specific oils to target fungal pathogens and infection stages, offering a scientific basis for the development of sustainable, natural antifungal formulations within integrated pest management (IPM) systems.
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Navarro-Rocha, J., Gimeno, D. and González-Coloma, A., 2023. Production of essential oils from different species in two localities of Aragón, Spain. Acta Hortic. 1358, 243-250. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1358.32
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| Keywords | Essential oils, chemotaxonomy, antifungal, Fusarium oxysporum, Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria alternata |
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