Psoralea corylifolia L. a Potent Medicinal Plant with reservoir of Bioactive Compounds and Broad Spectrum Antifungal Activity

Antifungal activity of the bioactive compound 2H-Furo[2,3-H]-1-benzopyran-2-one isolated from seeds of Psoralea corylifolia L. recorded complete inhibition of Drechslera halodes and Trichoderma viride at 800 ppm concentration. Cladosporium cladosporoides recorded 98.0% inhibition at 1000 ppm, Curvularia lunata recorded 71.0% inhibition at 800ppm and Alternaria alternata recorded 90.0% inhibition at 900ppm concentration respectively. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of all the test fungi was identified and all the results obtained were compared to synthetic fungicide Dithane M45 and Bavistin.

Background and Objective: Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources, many based on their use in traditional medicine. The use of traditional plant extracts as well as other alternative forms of medical treatments have been getting momentum since the 1990s. Currently, medicinal plants are widely used as home remedies or as alternative treatments by both rural and urban inhabitants in developing countries. Plants generally produce many secondary metabolites which constitute an important source of microbicides, pesticides and many pharmaceutical drugs. Plant products still remain the principal source of pharmaceutical agents used in traditional medicine. Evidence has accumulated to demonstrate the promising potential of medicinal plants used in various traditional, complementary and alternate systems of treatment of human diseases. Synthetic chemical fungicides form a major part of the chemical pesticides used in modern agriculture to manage diseases both in field and during storage. The ill effects associated with the use of chemical fungicides like carcinogenicity, teratogenicity a health hazards necessitated the search for alternative strategies for the management of pre and post harvest crop diseases. The objective of this study is to exploit the Psoralea Corylifolia L. a important medicinal plants which has been filled with many bioactive compounds and to test its potency for antifungal activity against important seed borne pathogens

Materials and Methods: Standard procedure was adopted for the Isolation of the Bioactive compound its antifungal activity by poisoned food technique.

Conclusion: 2H-Furo[2,3-H]-1-benzopyran-2-one, isolated from P. corylifolia seeds, effectively controls soil-borne fungi, outperforming synthetic fungicides at lower concentrations, making it suitable for ecologically safe biological assays.