Natural Plant Products as Eco-friendly Fungicides for Plant Diseases Control- A Review

The use of chemical pesticides for controlling various plant diseases is still a common practice especially in developing countries. Although with the application of chemical fungicides, plant diseases can be controlled but the hazardous impacts of such products in human health and environment are well known. Moreover, with their excess applications pest resistance may exist. Natural plant products have been found effective in plant disease managements and could be safely incorporated as suitable alternatives for synthetic fungicides. It is estimated that there are more than 250,000 higher plant species on earth that can be evaluated for their antimicrobial bioactive chemical compounds. During last several decades researchers have evaluated plant extracts and oils against plant pathogens, valuable results have been achieved and some commercially botanical formulations have been prepared and marketed. If we are supposed to move toward production of safer agricultural products, more attention and effort are still needed for production of more commercially botanical fungicides in the near future. The organic agriculture cannot rely on a limited number of commercially pesticides of natural origin, therefore it seems that more researches in formulating more commercially botanical products as fungicides are still needed. The Agriculturists 2016; 14(1) 134-141