FUNGICIDE POTENTIAL OF JATROPHA CURCAS L

Abstract

The Jatropha genus belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae and contains 186 known species. In Brazil, physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is an alternative to the supply of raw material, because high productivity of oil, low production costs and be resistant to water stress, which would be a significant advantage especially in the semiarid region of the country. In addition to this use it has been found great potential for medical use and agriculture as a fungicide, miticide and insecticide. However, the incentive to the cultivation of physic nut on large areas cause great concern to agricultural research in Brazil, due to the great limitation of technical knowledge about this culture. In order to obtain information on the use of different parts of the plant extract, there was a survey on scientific research databases, technology and patents, as well as on the websites of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, and the National Health Surveillance Agency. It was observed that many academic records on the use of extracts from different parts of physic nut, highlighting the importance of this species for the formulation of crop protection products. However, there are few patent records pertaining to the use of physic nut extract as a fungicide in the different bases of surveyed data, highlighting the need to conduct further research directed to multipurpose that this species has, as potential activities using secondary metabolites.