Plant Extracts from the Yucatan Peninsula in the In Vitro Control of and Antifungal Effect of and Extracts on Postharvest Fruits of Habanero Pepper.

Plant extracts are a valuable alternative for the control of phytopathogenic fungi in horticultural crops. In the present work, the in vitro antifungal effect of ethanol and aqueous extracts from different vegetative parts of 40 native plants of the Yucatan Peninsula on ITC26, a pathogen of habanero pepper (), and effects of the most active extracts on postharvest fruits were investigated. Among these, the ethanol extracts of (bark from stems and roots) and (leaves) inhibited 100% of the mycelial growth of . The three extracts were partitioned between acetonitrile and -hexane. The acetonitrile fraction from stem bark showed the lowest mean inhibitory concentration (IC) of 188 µg/mL against . The application of this extract and its active principle α-asarone in the postharvest fruits of (500 µg/mL) was shown to inhibit 100% of the severity of the infection caused by after 11 days of contact. Both samples caused the distortion and collapse of the conidia of the phytopathogen when observed using electron microscopy at 96 h. The spectrum of enriched antifungal action is a potential candidate to be a botanical fungicide in the control of in cultivating habanero pepper.