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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345635
Title: Phyto-fungicides: Structure activity relationships of the thymol derivatives against Rhizoctonia solani

Author
item Chauhan, Kamlesh
item LE, THANH - Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS, USDA)
item CHINTAKUNTA, PRAVEEN - University Of Kentucky
item Lakshman, Dilip

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/2017
Publication Date: 11/6/2017
Citation: Chauhan, K.R., Le, T.C., Chintakunta, P., Lakshman, D.K. 2017. Phyto-fungicides: Structure activity relationships of the thymol derivatives against Rhizoctonia solani. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment. 6:175-185.

Interpretive Summary: Plant based chemicals are “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), hence there is great potential to use them and their synthetic derivatives against soil fungi, both in greenhouse and field conditions. At present, few environmentally friendly fungicide alternatives are available to farmers and the agriculture industry. Thymol, the key component of thyme oil which is abundant in nature is one of those commercially viable natural fungicides. However, because of its tendency to damage plants and pungent odor, its derivatives with lower residual presence were evaluated for their activity against a common soil fungus. Among the six thymol derivatives evaluated, thymol acetate was determined to have superior efficacy combined with low toxicity to plants. This information will be used by scientists and chemical companies to develop safer alternatives to synthetic fungicides.

Technical Abstract: Thymol, the key component of thyme oil and its derivatives were evaluated for their structure activity relationship as fungicide against Rhizoctonia solani. Since plant based chemicals are considered as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) chemicals, there is a great potential to use phytochemicals and synthetic derivatives against R. solani, both in greenhouse and in field conditions. Among the six thymol derivatives evaluated, thymol acetate was considered as the most suitable commercially viable plant based fungicide due to its superior efficacy as well as lowest phytotoxity.