Antifungal activity of Piper essential oils from the Amazon against the Fusarium disease in Pepper da Silva JKR1

(joycekellys@ufpa.br), Ramos AR2, Luz SFM2, Meireles ENM1, Andrade EHA3, Maia JGS3
1

Programa de Ps-Graduao em Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Par, 66075-900, Belm, PA, Brazi; .2Faculdade de Cincias Exatas e Naturais, Universidade Federal do Par, 68501-970, Marab, PA, Brazil; 3Programa de Ps-Graduao em Qumica, Universidade Federal do Par, 66075-900, Belm, PA, Brazil. Keywords: Piper nigrum, P. callosum, P. divaricatum, P. krukoffii, Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis, antifungal activity The pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is very susceptible to the disease known as fusariosis, ie the attack of the Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis Alb., the fungus that causes root rot and large losses to the culture. The essential oils obtained from Piper callosum Ruiz & Pav, P. divaricatum G. Mey. and P. krukoffii Yunck. Were analyzed by GC and GC-MS and submitted to antifungal activity [1] against Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis. The oil compositions of P. callosum, P. divaricatum and P. krukoffii were rich in phenylpropanoid compounds. The main constituent identified in the oil of P. callosum were safrol (78.0%), methyeugenol (8.7%) and 1,8-cineole (2.6%); in the oil of P. divaricatum were methyleugenol (84.0%) and eugenol (8.7%); and in the oil of P. krukoffii were myristicin (40.3%), apiole (25.4%) and -elemeno (8.2%). The inhibition percent of growth of Fusarium solani f. sp. Piperis in the oil of P. callosum was 53.0%. The inhibition percent varied from 78.9 to 100% in the oil of P. divaricatum. The oil of P. krukoffii was only able to inhibit the fungus growth in 24.5%. The inhibition percent data were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA, p < 0.05). The differences were found to be extremely significant to P. divaricatum (P = 0.000), moderate to P. callosum (P = 0.0023) and not significant to P. krukoffii (P = 0.733). Acknowledgments: This work was funded by BIONORTE/CNPq and FAPESPA/PA and supported by UFPA/New Doctors Program. References: 1. SY Wang (2005) Bioresource Technology 96: 813818.