ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL HERBICIDAL COMPOUND FROM Drechslera rostrata

Abstract

ABSTRACT In agriculture, weeds have inevitable importance because of reducing the crop growth and also affecting food quality. Although, synthetic herbicides are available to combat these weeds but during recent years there is a trend of using ecofriendly herbicides extracted from natural resources. Present investigation is a continuity of the research, which reported a natural herbicidal compound named as Ophiobolin A from a fungus, Drechslera rostrata. The fungus was incubated in a growth medium of known composition (minimal medium) up to 28 days and its metabolites were extracted with organic solvents. The compound showing bioactivity was purified with the help of Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RPHPLC) and identified with the help of Spectroscopic techniques viz. Mass Spectroscopy (MS) (LRESIMS and HRESIMS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR). The purified compound caused death of superficial leaf cells of Chenopodium album, a noxious weed of wheat. Present investigation concludes that the identified compound could be used as structural analogue alternative to synthetic herbicides to synthesize natural herbicides.