DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v26i1.287

Keywords: Antifungal; Cyperaceae; LC-MS; phytochemical; plant extracts

Abstract

The plants from the Cyperaceae family have been long used for natural remedies including biopesticides to treat plant pathogens. The species Cyperus iria, Fimbristylis miliacea, and Fimbristylis globulosa contain bioactive compounds such as flavonoids and terpenoids that can be used to treat plant disease including fungal infection on plants. However, there is no reported data on the antifungal potential of the plants on Colletotrichum and Fusarium species, nor phytochemical studies conducted on the species. This study investigates the phytochemical contents of C. iria, F. miliacea, and F. globulosa methanolic extracts using liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technique, and their antifungal activity using agar well diffusion method and Minimum Inhibitory and Fungicidal Concentration (MIC & MFC). A total of 131, 60 and 95 compounds mainly from flavonoids, terpenes and fatty acids classes have been detected in the C. iria, F. miliacea, and F. globulosa extracts, respectively. The antifungal activity of the extracts against Colletotrichum spp. showed moderate to good activity with MIC and MFC values of 125 ug/mL and 250 ug/mL, respectively. Their antifungal activity against Fusarium spp. also showed moderate to good activity with MIC and MFC value of 250 ug/mL for C. iria and F. miliacea, and moderate activity for F. globulosa with MIC value of 250 ug/mL and MFC value of 500 ug/mL. These findings were supported by previous studies that Cyperaceae contain secondary metabolites which showed potential antifungal activity of Cyperaceae.