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Inhibitory effect of Lycium europaeum extracts on phytopathogenic soil-borne fungi and the reduction of late wilt in maize

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Abstract

The ability to control soil-borne pathogens in agriculture is highly conditioned by the restricted use of synthetic pesticides. Allelopathy, the antimicrobial activity of plant extracts, is a promising option against crop pathogens. Extracts from Lycium spp. such as L. barbarum, L. chinense and L. intricatum possess biological and therapeutic properties. Individual methanolic extracts from leaves and stems of the Mediterranean medicinal species L. europaeum collected in two locations of Tunisia were each evaluated in vitro against Verticillium dahliae (Vd), Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Ss) and Harpophora maydis (Hm). The mycelial growth of the three fungi was significantly reduced by all the extracts at doses of 10 and 30 μl mL−1 (equivalent to 1 and 3 mg plant tissue mL−1). The sporulation of Hm was almost completely inhibited in all the amendments, but that of Vd was stimulated by one of the leaf extracts when 1 and 3 mg dried plant tissue mL−1 were used. Sclerotia of Ss were formed in a smaller number, their total weight increasing at extract doses equivalent to 1 mg plant tissue mL−1 and higher. In greenhouse, the pathogenicity of Hm was confirmed as early as 6 weeks after inoculation, since it caused significant decreases of weights in both roots and aboveground parts of maize. The detrimental effect of Hm on maize root weight in greenhouse was significantly counteracted by one of the leaf extracts added by watering. In total, 11 phenolic compounds were separated in the four extracts. The hydroxycinnamic acid family, including chlorogenic acid as a major compound, represented more than 50% of the total content in all the samples. Rutin was the most abundant flavonoid. The results of this work show the detrimental effect of L. europaeum extracts against the soil-borne pathogens Hm, Ss and Vd, and highlight their potential in crop protection if adequately developed into final products and used in combination with other tools.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A.B. García-Carneros for excellent technical assistance.

Funding

This research was partially supported by grants AGL2010–17909 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) and P12-AGR1281 (Andalusian Government, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The stay of R. Tej was granted by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Tunisia.

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  1. R. Tej and C. Rodríguez-Mallol contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Protection, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (IAS), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Alameda del Obispo s/n, 14004, Córdoba, Spain

    R. Tej, C. Rodríguez-Mallol & L. Molinero-Ruiz

  2. Physiology and Biochemistry of Plant Response to Abiotic Stresses Unit, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 1060, Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

    R. Tej & N. Karray-Bouraoui

  3. Departamento Fitoquímica de Alimentos, Instituto de la Grasa, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Universidad Pablo de Olavide Ed. 46, Ctra. de Utrera, Km.1, 41013, Sevilla, Spain

    R. Rodríguez-Arcos

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Tej, R., Rodríguez-Mallol, C., Rodríguez-Arcos, R. et al. Inhibitory effect of Lycium europaeum extracts on phytopathogenic soil-borne fungi and the reduction of late wilt in maize. Eur J Plant Pathol 152, 249–265 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-018-1469-9

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