Antifungal Activity of Eclipta alba Metabolites against Sorghum Pathogens

Unscientific use of synthetic fungicides in plant disease management has environmental ramifications, such as disease resurgence and serious health problems due to their carcinogenicity. This has prompted the identification and development of eco-friendly greener alternatives. extract was evaluated for its antifungal activity in in vitro and in vivo against sorghum fungal pathogens and . The column purified methanolic extract of exhibited good antifungal activity against the target pathogens. The MIC was observed at 80 mg/mL for all tested pathogenic fungi, whereas MFC was 80 mg/mL for , 100 mg/mL for , and In vitro germination percentage was significantly high in seeds treated with extract (98%) over untreated control (91%). Significant disease protection of 95% was observed in greenhouse and 66% disease protection was noticed in field experiments. The efficacy of extract in field conditions was improved with the use of extract formulation. The profile of phytochemicals in methanol fractions was obtained by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) mass spectroscopy. The [M-H] at / 313.3, / 797.9, and / 269.0 revealed the presence of wedelolactone, eclalbasaponin II, and apigenin, respectively. The H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR) chemical shift value supported the findings of the mass spectrometry. The results highlighted the possible use of methanolic extract as alternative to chemical fungicide in sorghum disease management.