Antifungal Activity against Fusarium oxysporum of Botanical End-Products: An Integration of Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity Datasets to Identify Antifungal Bioactives

Plants produce various compounds as defensive barriers to naturally control fungal diseases. Among them, vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is one of the most destructive diseases in crops, causing relevant economic losses. The application of synthetic fungicides is the most used management for this disease. However, this kind of method also involves adverse environmental impacts. Therefore, alternative methods are continuously being developed as a strategy to be involved in integrated pest management programs. Thus, as part of our research on antifungals of plant origin, a group of botanical extracts was assessed for the respective inhibitory effect on mycelium and conidia of F. oxysporum. Mycelial growth inhibition was measured in 12-well plates containing amended semi-solid medium, whereas conidial susceptibility was determined through microdilution. The identification of the bioactive compounds among test extracts was performed using an indirect approach, consisting of the integration of chemical composition and antifungal activity datasets through single-Y orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) regression. Results showed that Piper aduncum extract was the most potent mycelial growth inhibitor whereas P. elongatum exhibited the best effect on conidia susceptibility. The active compounds identified through statistical integration and subsequent isolation were piperaduncin C, asebogenin and (-)-methyllinderatin. These findings indicated that the integrative, indirect approach is useful for the identification of bioactive metabolites from botanical extracts to be further used as biological protective agents against this phytopathogen.