ARS | Publication request: Clove oil and fungus compounds: Can nematode suppression be achieved without phytotoxicity?

Submitted to: Journal of Nematology
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: March 15, 2008
Publication Date: March 15, 2007
Citation: Meyer, S.L., Lakshman, D.K., Zasada, I.A., Vinyard, B.T., Chitwood, D.J., Shemshura, O.N., Bekmakhanova, N.E., Mazunina, M.N., Yeskalieva, B.K., Masler, E.P. 2007. Clove oil and fungus compounds: Can nematode suppression be achieved without phytotoxicity [abstract]? Journal of Nematology. 39:92.

Technical Abstract: Natural products from a plant (Syzygium aromaticum) and a fungus (Aspergillus sp.) were examined for the presence of compounds with potential for application as novel nematicides. The plant-derived material, clove oil, was tested in the greenhouse against the nematode Meloidogyne incognita on cucumber. In one trial, treatment with 0.10% and 0.15% clove oil (but not 0.20% clove oil) suppressed numbers of eggs and juveniles per gram of root by 27-28% compared to water-treated controls. No population suppression with clove oil treatment occurred in a second trial. Under the greenhouse test conditions, clove oil treatments that were not phytotoxic to seedlings did not effectively reduce root knot populations on cucumber roots. Metabolites from the fungus Aspergillus were tested for activity against the nematode Ditylenchus sp. In laboratory assays, culture broth from one Aspergillus sp. isolate caused 100% loss in activity of vermiform stages of Ditylenchus, resulting in formation of vesicles in the vicinity of the intestine. Multiple fractions of the culture broth were shown to be biologically active, including fractions containing amino acids, glycosylated flavonoids, terpenoids and dicarboxylic acids.