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Promising antifungal activity of two varieties of Capsicum chinense against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum goleosporoides

Abstract

Peppers (Capsicum sp.) which belong to the Solanaceae family constitute an important segment in the vegetable sector, both in agriculture and in the food industry. This paper aims to investigate in vitro antifungal activity of hexane extracts from Capsicum chinense fruit (unripe bode pepper – ‘HE-UB’ – and ripe little beak pepper – ‘HE-RB’) against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Antifungal activity was evaluated by the disk diffusion method (DDM) at doses between 25 µL and 300 µL of both diluted extracts. Chemical analyses revealed that the major constituent in both extracts was E-caryophyllene. HE-RB inhibited 100% of S. sclerotiorum, R. stolonifer and C. gloeosporioides growth at doses of 200 µL, 100 µL and 300 µL, respectively. HE-UB also inhibited 100% of fungal growth at doses of 100 µL (S. sclerotiorum), 150 µL (C. gloeosporioides) and 200 µL (R. stolonifer). HE-RB and HE-UB were active against the fungi under study; thus, screening of medicinal plants provides another alternative to produce chemical fungicides that are relatively non-toxic and cost-effective.

Keywords:
natural fungicide; phytopathogenic fungi; plant extract; pepper

1 Introduction

Peppers (Capsicum sp.) which belong to the Solanaceae family constitute an important segment in the vegetable sector, both in agriculture and in the food industry. They are special to produce spices due to their characteristics of fruit color and active ingredients which bestow aroma and flavor (Bianchi et al., 2020Bianchi, P. A., Silva, L. R. A., Alencar, A. A. S., Santos, P. H. A. D., Pimenta, S., Sudré, C. P., Corte, L. E.-D., Gonçalves, L. S. A., & Rodrigues, R. (2020). Biomorphological characterization of Brazilian Capsicum chinense Jacq. Germplasm. Agronomy, 10(3), 447. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10030447.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy100304...
).

Little beak pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) is a species that has small round fruit – with tails that resemble a bird’s beak – which have low pungency and are characterized as sweet fruit that may be consumed fresh or processed (Diel et al., 2020Diel, M. I., Lúcio, A. D. C., Valera, O. V. S., Sari, B. G., Olivoto, T., Pinheiro, M. V. M., Melo, P. J., Tartaglia, F. L., & Schmidt, D. (2020). Production of biquinho pepper in different growing seasons characterized by the logistic model and its critical points. Ciência Rural, 50(4), e20190477. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20190477.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr201...
). Another Capsicum variety that grows in Brazil was evaluated by this study: bode pepper (pimenta-bode in Brazilian Portuguese). It has special aroma and its unripe fruit are sold fresh while the ripe whole ones (yellow or red) are mainly canned (with vinegar or olive oil) and transformed into sauces (Jesus et al., 2020Jesus, G. C. R., Freitas, E. C. No., Barraque, M. J. M., Mesquita, P. H. G., & Curvêlo, C. R. S. (2020). Qualidade e produtividade de variedades botânicas de pimenta (Capsicum chinense) fora da região Amazônica, seu centro de diversificação. Brazilian Journal of Development, 6(5), 32378-32389. http://dx.doi.org/10.34117/bjdv6n5-618.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34117/bjdv6n5-618...
).

Regarding medicinal plants, the literature has broadly described the importance of plant extracts, isolated compounds and essential oils (EOs) to fight against phytopathogens which damage several crops that are economically relevant (Seepe et al., 2021Seepe, H. A., Nxumalo, W., & Amoo, S. O. (2021). Natural product from medicinal plants against phytopathogenic Fusarium species: current research endeavours, challenges and prospect. Molecules, 26(21), 6539. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules26216539. PMid:34770948.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules26216...
). Some phytopathogens are fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. The one that causes the disease known as white mold and attacks soybean crops is S. sclerotiorum (Silva et al., 2019Silva, F. F. A., Alves, C. C. F., Oliveira, J. G. Fo., Vieira, T. M., Crotti, A. E. M., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2019). Chemical constituents of essential oil from Murraya paniculata leaves and its application to in vitro biological control of the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Food Science and Technology, 39(Suppl. 2), 413-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/fst.20218.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/fst.20218...
). R. stolonifer damages mainly fruit since it causes the post-harvest disease known as soft rot (Rezende et al., 2020Rezende, J. L., Fernandes, C. C., Costa, A. O. M., Santos, L. S., Vicente, F. No., Sperandio, E. M., Souchie, E. L., Colli, A. C., Crotti, A. E. M., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2020). Antifungal potential of essential oils from two varieties of Citrus sinensis (lima orange and bahia navel orange) in postharvest control of Rizopus stolonifer (Ehrenb.: Fr.) Vuill. Food Science and Technology, 40(Suppl. 2), 405-409. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/fst.30519.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/fst.30519...
). C. gloeosporioides causes anthracnose, the post-harvest disease that leads to fruit rot, which affects several fruit, such as mango, avocado and passion fruit), and prevents commercialization (Gomes et al., 2021Gomes, S., Azevedo-Nogueira, F., & Martins-Lopes, P. (2021). Editorial comments to the special issue: “Colletotrichum spp. on fruit crops – state of the art, perspectives and drawbacks”. Pathogens, 10(4), 478. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10040478. PMid:33920756.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10040...
).

Taking into consideration the bioactive potential of C. chinense extracts (Morais et al., 2019Morais, K. S., Morais, B. S., Vilarinho, L. B. O., Chagas, P. C., Melo, A. C. G. R., Takahashi, J. A., & Melo, A. A. Fo. (2019). Bioactive extracts of Capsicum chinense in the northern Amazon. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 75, 433-438.; Santos et al., 2022Santos, L. S., Fernandes, C. C., Santos, L. S., Candido, A. C. B. B., Magalhães, L. G., Andrade, G., Pires, R. H., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2022). Phenolic compounds and biological activities of ethanolic extract from Capsicum chinense unripe fruit (var. bode pepper). Mediterranean Journal of Chemistry, 12, 31-37.), this study aimed at investigating the in vitro antifungal potential of hexane extracts from two Brazilian varieties of C. chinense fruit (unripe bode pepper – ‘HE-UB’ – and ripe little beak pepper – ‘HE-RB’ – Figure 1) and at determining their chemical composition by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Figure 1
Unripe bode pepper (left) and ripe little beak pepper (right).

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Plant material

Capsicum chinense fruit (unripe bode pepper – ‘HE-UB’ – and ripe little beak pepper – ‘HE-RB’) were bought in fairs in Santa Helena de Goiás and in Rio Verde, two cities in Goiás (GO) state, Brazil. Fruit were identified by the botanist Luzia Francisca de Souza and a voucher specimen of C. chinense (HJ558CC – ripe little beak pepper) and (HJ559CC – unripe bode pepper) were deposited at the Herbarium Jataiense Professor Germano Guarim Neto. They were then taken to the Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry at IF Goiano – Campus Rio Verde, located in Rio Verde, GO, where they were washed with distilled water. Afterwards, they were dried with paper towels and had their peduncles removed. Fruit were then weighed and dehydrated in an air circulation oven at 40 °C for 96 h. Finally, they were ground, placed into a sealed container and stored in a refrigerator up to the preparation of crude hexane extracts (HE-UB and HE-RB).

2.2 Preparation of hexane extracts (HE-UB and HE-RB)

Fruit (300 g) were air-dried and milled by a Wiley mill. Subsequently, they were exhaustively cold-extracted with hexane. Every resulting extract was filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. Finally, 6.0 g crude hexane extract from ripe little beak peppers (HE-RB) and 4.3 g crude hexane extract from unripe bode peppers (HE-UB) were collected.

2.3 Chemical identification of HE-UB and HE-RB constituents

HE-RB and HE-UB were dissolved in ethyl ether and analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with the use of Shimadzu QP5000 Plus and GCMS2010 Plus (Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) systems. The temperature of the column in GC-FID was programmed to rise from 60 to 240 °C at 3 °C/min and was held at 240 °C for 5 min; the carrier gas was H2 at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The equipment was set to operate in the injection mode; the injection volume was 0.1 µL (split ratio of 1:10) while injector and detector temperatures were 240 and 280 °C, respectively. Relative concentrations of components were obtained by normalizing peak areas (%). Relative areas consisted of the average of triplicate GC-FID analyses. GC-MS conditions and the identification have been previously reported (Cabral et al., 2022Cabral, F. V., Fernandes, C. C., Dias, A. L. B., Ribeiro, A. B., Squarisi, I. S., Tavares, D. C., Crotti, A. E. M., Moreira, F. F., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2022). Hexane extract from Tradescantia pallida (Rose) D.R. Hunt (Commelinaceae): its volatile constituents and in vitro antifungal and cytotoxic activities. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, 65, e22210621. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2022210621.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2022...
). Identification of volatile components of hexane extracts (Table 1) was based on their retention indices on an Rtx-5MS (30 m X 0.25 mm; 0.250 µm) capillary column under the same operating conditions used for GC relative to a homologous series of n-alkanes (C8-C20). Structures were computer-matched with Wiley 7, NIST 08 and FFNSC 1.2 and their fragmentation patterns were compared with literature data (Adams, 2007Adams, R. P. (2007). Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Carol Stream: Allured Publishing Corporation.).

Table 1
Volatile constituents of hexane extracts from ripe little beak peppers (HE-RB) and unripe bode peppers (HE-UB).

2.4 Antifungal activity of HE-RB and HE-UB

In this study, two methodologies were used for evaluating antifungal activity in vitro (Dias et al., 2022Dias, A. L. B., Batista, H. R. F., Sousa, W. C., Bailão, E. F. L. C., Rocha, J. D., Sperandio, E. M., Fernandes, C. C., Souchie, E. L., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2022). Psidium myrtoides O. Berg fruit and leaves: physicochemical characteristics, antifungal activity and chemical composition of their essential oils in different seasons. Natural Product Research, 36(4), 1043-1047. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2020.1844689. PMid:33161760.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2020....
; Cabral et al., 2022Cabral, F. V., Fernandes, C. C., Dias, A. L. B., Ribeiro, A. B., Squarisi, I. S., Tavares, D. C., Crotti, A. E. M., Moreira, F. F., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2022). Hexane extract from Tradescantia pallida (Rose) D.R. Hunt (Commelinaceae): its volatile constituents and in vitro antifungal and cytotoxic activities. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, 65, e22210621. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2022210621.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2022...
). R. stolonifer and C. gloeosporioides strains were isolated from moldy whole papaya in natural conditions and identified. S. sclerotiorum isolates were collected in an area that has been naturally infested by this pathogen in Rio Verde, GO, Brazil. Sclerotia were produced by chopping fungal mycelia and placing them in Erlenmeyer flasks containing previously autoclaved carrot discs. Flasks were incubated at 25 ºC in the dark for 30 days. Afterwards, resulting sclerotia were removed from the flasks, washed under running water and stored at 5 ºC up to their use in experiments. The plate scribing method was used for isolation and purification. Isolated fungal colonies (R. stolonifer and C. gloeosporioides) selected in naturally contaminated papaya were dissolved in sterile saline to make a fungal suspension which was spread on Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and incubated at 28 °C for 3-5 days until complete fungus growth. Grown colonies were re-cultured to obtain pure cultures, transferred to PDA slant medium and stored at 4 °C for further studies. Fungal strains were cultured at 28 °C for 3-5 days and fungal spores on plates were dissolved in sterile saline solution and diluted to the approximate proportion of 106 CFU/mL. HE-RB and HE-UB were dissolved in 0.1% Tween 80 to render doses between 25-300 µL. Diluted extracts were filtered by a 0.45 μM microporous filter. Then, 100 μL of every fungal suspension was spread onto PDA plate medium and the sterile filter paper (6.0 mm diameter, 1.0 mm thick) was impregnated with 10 μL of every extract and placed on the surface of seeded Petri plates. Filter paper loaded with solvent was used as the control. Plates were placed in an incubator at 28 °C for 3-5 days. The diameter of the inhibition zone was measured and recorded as an indicator of antifungal activity. Frowncide 500SC was used as the positive control (dose of 5 µL). Pure Tween 80 was also evaluated at the lowest dose under investigation (25 µL) in all steps of the experiment in order to find out whether it would interfere with the assays. Agar diffusion assays applied to every extracts against the three fungi were performed in triplicate. They were incubated at 28 °C and mycelial growth was measured daily up to full growth of the fungus on control dishes. The treatment was carried out in quadruplicate and the experimental design was thoroughly randomized. Data were submitted to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means of treatments were evaluated by the Scott-Knott test at 5% significance level by the ASSISTAT software program. The percentage of inhibition of mycelial growth was calculated by the following formula (Equation 1):

I M G % = c o n t r o l g r o w t h t r e a t m e n t g r o w t h c o n t r o l g r o w t h x 100 (1)

3 Results

3.1 Chemical composition

Concerning chemical composition and relative abundance, the major constituents identified by GC-MS and GC-FID in hexane extracts were hemimellitene (5.0%, 1), hexyl isovalerate (8.5%, 2), n-octyl isobutyrate (6.1%, 3), octadecanal (5.2%, 4), 4-methyltetradecane (7.6%, 5), isobutyl caprate (7.5%, 6) and the sesquiterpene (E)-caryophyllene (7), whose high concentrations in HE-RB (49.4%) and HE-UB (21.6%) should be highlighted (Table 1; Figure 2).

Figure 2
Major constituents identified in HE-RB and HE-UB: hemimellitene (1), hexyl isovalerate (2), n-octyl isobutyrate (3), octadecanal (4), 4-methyltetradecane (5), isobutyl caprate (6) and (E)-caryophyllene (7).

3.2 Antifungal activity

Assays of antifungal activity were divided into two parts and results were shown by graphs in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-8. The first part consisted in testing all pre-selected doses of HE-RB (25-300 µL) and Tween 80 (25 µL) against S. sclerotiorum, R. stolonifer and C. goleosporoides to find the dose of HE-RB which would be capable of inhibiting 100% of the three fungi (Figures 3-5). In the case of S. sclerotiorum, maximum inhibition was reached at 200 µL of HE-RB while 100 µL was enough to inhibit 100% of R. stolonifer growth and 300 µL inhibited 100% of C. goleosporoides growth. The second part of the analyses aimed at evaluating antifungal potential of HE-UB against the fungi. Results showed that 100 µL, 200 µL and 150 µL inhibited 100% of S. sclerotiorum, R. stolonifer and C. goleosporoides growth, respectively. The positive control was the commercial fungicide Frowncide 500SC at 5 µL (100% inhibition).

Figure 3
Percentages of inhibition of S. sclerotiorum mycelial growth at different HE-RB doses.
Figure 4
Percentages of inhibition of R. stolonifer mycelial growth at different HE-RB doses.
Figure 5
Percentages of inhibition of C. goleosporoides mycelial growth at different HE-RB doses.
Figure 6
Percentages of inhibition of S. sclerotiorum mycelial growth at different HE-UB doses.
Figure 7
Percentages of inhibition of R. stolonifer mycelial growth at different HE-UB doses.
Figure 8
Percentages of inhibition of C. goleosporoides mycelial growth at different HE-UB doses.

4 Discussion

Volatile constituents of hexane extracts from C. chinense fruit – unripe bode pepper (HE-UB) and ripe little beak pepper (HE-RB) – were identified by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Firstly, remarkable E-caryophyllene concentrations were found in both extracts, i. e., 49.4% in HE-RB and 21.6% in HE-UB (Table 1). Besides, HE-RB exhibited E-caryophyllene and n-octyl isobutyrate (6.1%) as its major constituents. However, HE-UB exhibited five other major constituents: hexyl isovalerate (8.5%), 4-methyltetradecane (7.6%), isobutyl caprate (7.5%), octadecanal (5.2%) and hemimellitene (5.0%). C. chinense fruit of Cuban origin had high chemical variety of volatile constituents while their major constituents were hexyl isopentanoate, hexyl pentanoate, hexyl 2-methylbutanoate, 3,3-dimethylcyclohexanol, c-himachalene and germacrene D (Pino et al., 2011Pino, J., Fuentes, V., & Barrios, O. (2011). Volatile constituents of cachucha peppers (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) grown in Cuba. Food Chemistry, 125(3), 860-864. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.08.073.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.201...
). A recent study reported that different types of esters have been found in Capsicum species (C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. annuum, C. baccatum and C. pubescens) and that 3-methylbutanoyl moiety is apparently a characteristic of C. chinense (Murakami et al., 2019Murakami, Y., Iwabuchi, H., Ohba, Y., & Fukami, H. (2019). Analysis of volatile compounds from chili peppers and characterization of habanero (Capsicum chinense) volatiles. Journal of Oleo Science, 68(12), 1251-1260. http://dx.doi.org/10.5650/jos.ess19155. PMid:31787673.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5650/jos.ess19155...
). The volatile composition found by the study reported by this short communication, which refers to C. chinense fruit grown in Goiás (GO) state, Brazil, is very similar to the one of fruit borne by two other C. chinense varieties found in Brasília, Brazil’s capital (Garruti et al., 2013Garruti, D. S., Pinto, N. O. F., Alves, V. C. C., Penha, M. F. A., Tobaruela, E. C., & Araújo, I. M. S. (2013). Volatile profile and sensory quality of new varieties of Capsicum chinense pepper. Food Science and Technology, 33, 102-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0101-20612013000500016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0101-20612013...
). An important similarity is the remarkably high E-caryophyllene concentration (60.0%) identified in a variety of C. chinense known as seriema in Brazil (Garruti et al., 2013Garruti, D. S., Pinto, N. O. F., Alves, V. C. C., Penha, M. F. A., Tobaruela, E. C., & Araújo, I. M. S. (2013). Volatile profile and sensory quality of new varieties of Capsicum chinense pepper. Food Science and Technology, 33, 102-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0101-20612013000500016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0101-20612013...
).

Regarding antifungal activity, excellent in vitro results were found. Both HE-RB and HE-UB exhibited high inhibition of mycelial growth of three phytopathogens, i. e., S. sclerotiorum, R. stolonifer and C. goleosporoides. It should be reinforced that they cause incalculable economic losses to important crops worldwide, such as soybeans, and prevent commercialization of several types of fruit due to precocious rot (Wang et al., 2019Wang, Y., Sun, Y., Wang, J., Zhou, M., Wang, M., & Feng, J. (2019). Antifungal activity and action mechanism of the natural product cinnamic acid against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Plant Disease, 103(5), 944-950. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-18-1355-RE. PMid:30895869.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-18-135...
; Nunes et al., 2020Nunes, M. S., Farias, O. R., Cruz, J. M. F. L., Duarte, I. G., Silva, H. F., & Nascimento, L. C. (2020). Incidência de fungos fitopatogênicos em frutos e hortaliças comercializadas em Areia-Paraíba. Brazilian Journal of Development, 6(6), 36283-36295. http://dx.doi.org/10.34117/bjdv6n6-246.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34117/bjdv6n6-246...
).

In the scenario in which fungi are responsible for severe economic losses and damage in the food sector, natural products with antifungal activity are considered promising alternatives to replace highly toxic synthetic fungicides. Secondary metabolites from plants have already proven to be as active as commercial fungicides used in agriculture (Jiménez-Reyes et al., 2019Jiménez-Reyes, M. F., Carrasco, H., Olea, A. F., & Silva-Moreno, E. (2019). Natural compounds: a sustainable alternative to the phytopathogens control. Journal of the Chilean Chemical Society, 64(2), 4459-4465. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-97072019000204459.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-97072019...
).

Recent data published by several researchers have shown that C. chinense exhibits relevant antifungal activity, a fact that has been confirmed and corroborated by this short communication. For instance, Anaya-López et al. (2006)Anaya-López, J. L., López-Meza, J. E., Baizabal-Aguirre, V. M., Cano-Camacho, H., & Ochoa-Zarzosa, A. (2006). Fungicidal and cytotoxic activity of a Capsicum chinense defensin expressed by endothelial cells. Biotechnology Letters, 28(14), 1101-1108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9060-4. PMid:16794772.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-906...
showed that C. chinense exhibits activity against the fungus Candida albicans. Dias et al. (2013)Dias, G. B., Gomes, V. M., Pereira, U. Z., Ribeiro, S. F. F., Carvalho, A. O., Rodrigues, R., Machado, O. L. T., Fernandes, K. V. S., Ferreira, A. T. S., Perales, J., & Cunha, M. (2013). Isolation, characterizarion and antifungal activity of proteinase inhibitors from Capsicum chinense Jacq. seeds. The Protein Journal, 32(1), 15-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10930-012-9456-z. PMid:23117889.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10930-012-945...
reported that C. chinense is active against C. albicans, P. membranifaciens, S. cerevisiae, C. tropicalis and K. marxiannus yeasts. Ethanolic extract based on C. chinense fruit showed its capacity to inhibit Aspergillus parasiticus growth (Buitimea-Cantúa et al., 2020Buitimea-Cantúa, G. V., Velez-Haro, J. M., Buitimea-Cantúa, N. E., Molina-Torres, J., & Rosas-Burgos, E. C. (2020). GC-EIMS analysis, antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic activity of Capsicum chinense and Piper nigrum fruits and their bioactive compounds capsaicin and piperine upon Aspergillus parasiticus. Natural Product Research, 34(10), 1452-1455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2018.1514395. PMid:30295073.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2018....
). Besides, some researchers have stated that peptides found in C. chinense fruit have high antimicrobial potential against phytopathogenic fungi, which is strong evidence of the fact that the species is promising in agriculture (Santos et al., 2020Santos, L. A., Taveira, G. B., Silva, M. S., Gebara, R. S., Pereira, L. S., Perales, J., Teixeira-Ferreira, A., Mello, E. O., Carvalho, A. O., Rodrigues, R., & Gomes, V. M. (2020). Antimicrobial peptides from Capsicum chinense fruits: agronomic alternatives against phytopathogenic fungi. Bioscience Reports, 40(8), BSR20200950. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/BSR20200950. PMid:32785580.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/BSR20200950...
; Moguel-Salazar et al., 2011Moguel-Salazar, F., Brito-Argáez, L., Díaz-Brito, M., & Islas-Flores, I. (2011). A review of a promising therapeutic and agronomical alternative: antimicrobial peptides from Capsicum sp. African Journal of Biotechnology, 10(86), 19918-19928. http://dx.doi.org/10.5897/AJBX11.070.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5897/AJBX11.070...
). In addition, a recent study carried out by Aguieiras et al. (2021)Aguieiras, M. C. L., Resende, L. M., Souza, T. A. M., Nagano, C. S., Chaves, R. P., Taveira, G. B., Carvalho, A. O., Rodrigues, R., Gomes, V. M., & Mello, E. O. (2021). Potent anti-Candida fraction isolated from Capsicum chinense fruits contains an antimicrobial peptide that is similar to plant defensin and is able to inhibit the activity of different α-amylase enzymes. Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins, 13(3), 862-872. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12602-020-09739-3. PMid:33454869.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12602-020-097...
showed that C. chinense fruit have bioactive metabolites which are capable of fighting multi-resistant pathogens.

Studies of C. chinense and their active constituents – that have already been published in the literature – may explain the satisfactory results of HE-RB and HE-UB. This study highlights the total inhibition of fungal growth when different doses of hexane extracts were evaluated. Santos et al. (2024)Santos, L. S., Fernandes, C. C., Santos, L. S., Dias, A. L. B., Souchie, E. L., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2024). Phenolic compounds and antifungal activity of ethyl acetate extract and methanolic extract from Capsicum chinense Jacq. ripe fruit. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 84, e258084. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.258084. PMid:35195174.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.2580...
reported that 200 µL ethyl acetate extracted from C. chinense fruit was capable of inhibiting S. sclerotiorum (96.2%), R. stolonifer (87.3%) and C. goleosporoides (98.3%) growth. The methanolic extract was poorly active since it inhibited only around 50% of mycelial growth of the three fungi (Santos et al., 2024Santos, L. S., Fernandes, C. C., Santos, L. S., Dias, A. L. B., Souchie, E. L., & Miranda, M. L. D. (2024). Phenolic compounds and antifungal activity of ethyl acetate extract and methanolic extract from Capsicum chinense Jacq. ripe fruit. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 84, e258084. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.258084. PMid:35195174.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.2580...
). In sum, this study suggests that antifungal activity exhibited by HE-RB and HE-UB may be explained by their high concentrations of E-caryophyllene, since this sesquiterpene has well-known antifungal activity (Nogueira et al., 2020Nogueira, A. C. So., Morais, S. M., Souza, E. B., Albuquerque, M. R. J. R., Santos, H. S., Cavalcante, C. S. P., Sousa, H. A., & Fontenelle, R. O. S. (2020). Antifungal and antioxidant activities of Vernonia chalybaea Mart. Ex DC. essential oil and their major constituent β-caryophyllene. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, 63, e20190177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2020190177.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1678-4324-2020...
; Hilgers et al., 2021Hilgers, F., Habash, S. S., Loeschcke, A., Ackermann, Y. S., Neumann, S., Heck, A., Klaus, O., Hage-Hulsmann, J., Grundler, F. M. W., Jaeger, K. E., Schleker, A. S. S., & Drepper, T. (2021). Heterologous production of β-caryophyllene and evaluation of its activity against plant pathogenic fungi. Microorganisms, 9(1), 168. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010168. PMid:33466643.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms...
). Another possibility that must also be mentioned is the synergic effect of all constituents of the extracts which act to result in satisfactory antifungal activity (Rueangrit et al., 2019Rueangrit, S., Eakjamnong, W., & Dethoup, T. (2019). Hidden synergistic effects of the combinations of plant extracts against plant pathogenic fungi. Journal of Biopesticides, 12, 51-60.).

5 Conclusion

Pepper extracts under evaluation have an inhibitory effect on mycelial growth of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Another observation is that the more extract doses, the more the antifungal activity increases.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to FAPEG, CNPq, CAPES and IF GOIANO – Campus Rio Verde for their financial support.

  • Practical Application: Research into plant-derived fungicides for agriculture has now been intensified since it becomes evident that they still have enormous potential to inspire and influence modern agrochemical research.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    29 July 2022
  • Date of issue
    2022

History

  • Received
    10 May 2022
  • Accepted
    06 July 2022
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