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Background: Waltheria indica exhibited strong nematocidal activity against Meloidogyne incognita, a causal agent of root-knot nematode disease. This study aimed to characterize the nematocidal metabolites and to evaluate the efficacy of the formulated extract of W. indica in the biological control of M. incognita under both pot and field conditions., Results: Three 4-quinolone alkaloids, 5'-methoxywaltherione A, waltherione A and waltherione C, were isolated and characterized as nematocidal metabolites. 5'-Methoxywaltherione A and waltherione A caused high mortality in juveniles of Meloidogyne arenaria, Meloidogyne hapla, M. incognita and Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, whereas waltherione C exhibited significant nematocidal activity against only root-knot nematodes. In pot experiments, application of a wettable powder-type formulation of the ethyl acetate extract of W. indica (W. indica WP20) at 26.7, 53.4 and 106.8 mg a.i. kg -1 soil significantly reduced the formation of galls and egg masses on the roots of tomato plants in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, application of 20 mg a.i. per plant W. indica WP20 effectively reduced gall formation on the roots of melon plants and population density of nematode in soil compared with untreated control under field conditions., Conclusion: W. indica can be used as an effective botanical nematicide in the eco-friendly control of root-knot nematode disease. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Background: Pine wilt disease (PWD) is very complex and has been reported to be caused by pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner & Buhrer) Nickle, and its accompanying bacteria. However, there is no report on the control of PWD by antibacterial agent. The present study was performed to investigate disease control efficacy of antibacterial agents against PWD., Results: Among six antibacterial antibiotics tested, oxolinic acid (OA) showed the strongest antibacterial activity against five bacteria isolated from three strains of pine wood nematode. In in vivo assay, it effectively suppressed the development of PWD in three-year-old seedlings of Pinus densiflora Sieb. & Zucc.; it showed 71% control when injected at 3 mg per seedling. A mixture of OA and the nematicidal agent abamectin (Ab) showed higher disease control efficacy against PWD than either OA or Ab alone. In addition, OA alone and a mixture of OA and Ab also controlled PWD in approximately 20-year-old pine trees under field conditions., Conclusion: This is the first report on the suppression of PWD by OA. The result strongly indicates that PWD could be controlled by antibacterial antibiotic alone and a combination of antibacterial and nematicidal agents.

Background: In a search for plant extracts with potent in vivo antifungal activity against various plant diseases, we found that treatment with a methanol extract of Myristica fragrans Houttyn (nutmeg) seeds reduced the development of various plant diseases. The objectives of the present study were to isolate and determine antifungal substances from My. fragrans and to evaluate their antifungal activities., Results: Three antifungal lignans were isolated from the methanol extract of My. fragrans seeds and identified as erythro-austrobailignan-6 (EA6), meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid (MDA) and nectandrin-B (NB). In vitro antimicrobial activity of the three lignans varied according to compound and target species. Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum coccodes, C. gloeosporioides, Magnaporthe grisea, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Acidovorax konjaci and Burkholderia glumae were relatively sensitive to the three lignans. In vivo, all three compounds effectively suppressed the development of rice blast and wheat leaf rust. In addition, EA6 and NB were highly active against the development of barley powdery mildew and tomato late blight, respectively. Both MDA and NB also moderately inhibited the development of rice sheath blight., Conclusion: This is the first study to demonstrate the in vitro and in vivo antifungal activities of the three lignans from My. fragrans against plant pathogenic fungi., (2007 Society of Chemical Industry)

The methanol extract of stems of Catalpa ovata G Don exhibits potent in vivo antifungal activity against Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr (rice blast) on rice plants, Botrytis cinerea Pers ex Fr (tomato grey mould) and Phytophthora infestans (Mont) de Bary (tomato late blight) on tomato plants, Puccinia recondita Rob ex Desm (wheat leaf rust) on wheat plants and Blumeria graminis (DC) Speer f. sp. hordei Marchal (barley powdery mildew) on barley plants. An antifungal substance was isolated and identified as dehydro-alpha-lapachone from mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectral data. It completely inhibited the mycelial growth of B. cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum Simmonds, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Simmonds, M. grisea and Pythium ultimum Trow over a range of 0.4-33.3 mg litre(-1). It also controlled the development of rice blast, tomato late blight, wheat leaf rust, barley powdery mildew and red pepper anthracnose (Colletotrichum coccodes (Wallr) S Hughes). The chemical was particularly effective in suppressing red pepper anthracnose by 95% at a concentration of 125 mg litre(-1)., (Copyright 2006 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Methanol extracts of fresh materials of 183 plants were screened for in vivo antifungal activity against Magnaporthe grisea, Corticium sasaki, Botrytis cinerea, Phytophthora infestans, Puccinia recondita and Erysiphe graminis f sp hordei. Among them, 33 plant extracts showed disease-control efficacy of more than 90% against at least one of six plant diseases. The methanol extracts of Achyranthes japonica (whole plant) and Rumex crispus (roots) at concentrations greater than 11 g fresh weight of plant tissue per litre of aqueous Tween 20 solution effectively controlled the development of barley powdery mildew caused by E graminis f sp hordei in an in vivo assay using plant seedlings. At a concentration of 300 g fresh weight of plant tissue per litre of Tween 20 solution, the two extracts were as efficient as the fungicide fenarimol (30 mg litre(-1)) and more active than the fungicide polyoxin B (100 and 33 mg litre(-1)) against Sphaerotheca fuliginea on cucumber plants in glasshouse trials.

Phomalactone, 5,6-dihydro-5-hydroxy-6-prop-2-enyl-2H-pyran-2-one, produced by the fungus Nigrospora sphaerica, was tested in vitro against nine plant pathogenic fungi, and specifically inhibited the mycelial growth of Phytophthora infestans, with an MIC value of 2.5 mg litre-1. Its inhibitory activities against sporangium and zoospore germination of P infestans were similar to those against Phytophthora capsici. In vivo, at 100 and 500 mg litre-1, it reduced the development of tomato late blight caused by P infestans.

In order to develop a new method for measuring foliar uptake of fungicides, Congo Red was selected as a tracer, and optimum procedures were established for washing, extracting and analyzing it and fungicides from leaf surfaces. Congo Red, a water-soluble dye, was not absorbed into cucumber or rice leaf, even in the presence of various surfactants, and was completely washable from leaf surfaces by aqueous acetonitrile solutions. Congo Red and fungicides in washings were quantified to calculate the amount of foliar uptake of the latter, by comparing the ratio to Congo Red. The optimum concentration of Congo Red in a formulation should be established in order to minimize its influence on fungicide uptake. Although Congo Red has proved to be useful with a conventional droplet application method, it will give more realistic and practical results with the spraying method used in the present study.