Fungal Phytotoxins with Potential Herbicidal Activity to Control Chenopodium album

Abstract

This review deals with the isolation and chemical and biological characterization of phytotoxins produced by Ascochyta caulina and Phoma chenopodiicola proposed as mycoherbicides for the biological control of Chenopodium album, a worldwide spread weed which causes serious problems to some agrarian crops, including sugar beet and maize. Studies on the structure activity relationships and on the modes of actions of toxins isolated are also described, as well as the optimization of analytical methods focused on selection of the best fungal toxin producers. The attempts to scale up production of these phytotoxins aimed to obtain sufficient amounts for their application in greenhouse and field trials are also reported.