• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.280-286
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• 2009

To investigate anti-phytopathogenic fungal activity of Coptis chinensis, the methanol extract and its organic solvent fractions were prepared. Using the extract and the fractions, in-vitro spore-germination inhibition and mycelial-growth inhibition activities were evaluated against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Phytohpthora capsici, Pyricularia grisea, Rhizoctonia solani, Botryosphaeri dothidea, Glomerella cingulata, respectively. Treatment of the methanol extract (500 mg/mL) into the spore of phytopathogenic fungi completely inhibited germinations for 5 days, except B. dothidea, and showed strong antifungal activities against P. grisea and B. cinerea, and antioomycetes activity against P. capsici. The minimal growth inhibition concentrations of the methanol extract against P. grisea, B. cinerea and P. capsici were 300, 300, and 500 mg/mL, respectively. For practical application of C. chinensis in red-pepper field, the hot-water extract (1,000 mg/mL) was prepared in commercial facility, after evaluation of heat stability and solvent-extraction yields of antifungal substances. The 3-times leaf-spray of the extract from June to August, 2008 did not show any deleterious effect to red-pepper. In fact, the leaf-spray promoted plant growth including leaf, root and fruit. The average weight and rind of each fruit were increased to 119% and 117% comparison to those of without treatments. Our results suggest that C. chinensis is a useful source for control of red-pepper diseases and plant growth.