Antifungal Activity and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometric Characterization of Aqueous Extracts of Acacia senegal and Acacia tortilis on Phytopathogenic Fungi

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of aqueous extracts of Acacia senegal (A. senegal) and Acacia tortilis (A. tortilis) against three phytopathogenic fungi (viz., Alternaria alternata [A. alternata], Helminthosporium rostratum [H. rostratum] and Fusarium solani [F. solani]).
 Methods: Crude aqueous extracts of A. senegal and A. tortilis at 1%, 2.5% and 5% concentrations were used for screening. Antifungal activities of the extracts were evaluated against three phytopathogenic fungal strains (A. alternata, H. rostratum and F. solani) by poisoned food technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the treated and untreated mycelia was employed to analyze the ultrastructural changes and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry analysis was performed to identify important functional groups.
 Results: Aqueous extract of A. tortilis at high concentrations exhibited moderate inhibitory activity against the selected fungal strains. The aqueous extract of A. senegal showed no effect on A. alternata, while exhibited very mild activity against H. rostratum and F. solani at high concentrations (2.5% and 5%). Scanning electron microphotographs of the untreated fungal cells showed no structural changes (well‒defined mycelium and conidia without any distortion), whereas the treated cells showed structural distortions, twisted and wrecked mycelia and showed the presence of vesicles on the surface. FTIR analysis showed the presence of important functional groups such as alcohols, carboxylic acids and aromatic compounds.
 Conclusion: Results from this study indicate that the aqueous extracts of both A. senegal and A. tortilis have the potential to be used as natural fungicidal agents in the management of diseases caused by plant pathogenic fungi.

Antifungal Potential of silver nanoparticles from Acacia nilotica Pod against Dermatophytes

“…Other scholars have also reported similar peaks for A. Senegal and A. tottilis 41 and A. nilotica 37 .…”

“…This agrees with the findings of 2 , establishing that males were more affected by dermatophytes than the female counterpart in their work sampling children from Bauchi state and disagree with the age group with the highest prevalence is 9 -12years only because, they have enrolled children alone in their study. In Maiduguri, 41 also reported that children 7 -11 years (8.1%) are more infected followed by 4 -6years (6.9%) and 12 -16years (3.6%). The isolates recovered according to children also followed the same order at 64%, 25.4%, and 10.5%.…”

“…42 , 2020 described Trichophyton species (16%) as the leading cause of tineasis in Kano and the only contrary result is that they reported Tinea capitis as the leading clinical disease while this report presented Tinea corpori and T. unguium ahead of T. capitis. T. mentagrophyles (16.7%) and T. tonsurans (10.5%) were among the isolates identified in Maiduguri 41 .…”