Open Access

ARTICLE

Antifungal Activity of Crude Extracts of Tectona grandis L.f. against Wood Decay Fungi

by Enrique Cárcamo-Ibarra¹, Mauro Manuel Martínez-Pacheco², Abril Munro-Rojas¹, Jorge Enrique Ambriz-Parra¹, Crisanto Velázquez-Becerra^1,*

1 Facultad de Ingeniería en Tecnología de la Madera, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, 58030, México
2 Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, 58030, México

* Corresponding Author: Crisanto Velázquez-Becerra. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(8), 1795-1808. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.020578

Received 01 December 2021; Accepted 08 February 2022; Issue published 14 April 2022

Abstract

Wood is mainly made up of cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin polymers and other organic and inorganic substances, making it susceptible to deteriorate by various biological agents. Tectona grandis L.f. (Teak) is a timber species with high resistance to biological deterioration, valued for its durability, beauty, and mechanical resistance. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the antifungal activity of crude extracts from teak on various fungi that cause wood deterioration. For this, Teak heartwood was obtained, then fragmented and pulverized until obtaining a flour which was used for compounds extraction using the Soxhlet technique coupled to a rotary evaporator through solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran, and acetone). The extracts obtained were tested against fungal organisms collected in the field, and the LC₅₀ was determined using teak crude extracts on Artemia salina as a biological model. The results obtained showed that a high flour yield was obtained with hexane (0.951 g), followed by tetrahydrofuran (0.446 g), dichloromethane (0.348 g), and acetone (0.152 g). By using nine fungal organisms that predominantly correspond to the genus Aspergillus, the extractable compounds were tested, inhibiting 25% of mycelial growth with tetrahydrofuran (T. versicolor), and 40.9% with dichloromethane (G. trabeum). Likewise, the biological model of A. salina showed an LC₅₀ of 84.9 μg/mL with hexane, 43.3 μg/mL with dichloromethane, 59.6 μg/mL with tetrahydrofuran, and 54.7 μg/mL with acetone. For this reason, it is concluded that Teak wood contains many extractable compounds in relation to its weight, besides having antimicrobial activity when extracted through polar compounds such as dichloromethane and tetrahydrofuran.

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