Teeranai Poti1, Nutcha Manichart1, Mattana Tunchai1*, Pattharin Wichittrakarn2, Kaori Yoneyama3, Chamroon Laosinwattana4
1Department of Plant Production Technology, School of Agricultural Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand
2International Academy of Aviation Industry, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand
3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saitama University, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan
4Office of Administrative Interdisciplinary Program on Agricultural Technology, School of Agricultural Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand
*Corresponding author’s email: mattana.tu@kmitl.ac.th
Received: 05 October 2025 / Revised: 06 December 2025 / Accepted: 09 December 2025 / Published Online: 23 December 2025
Abstract
Fungi produce phytotoxic metabolites that can be utilized in natural herbicide development, but fungal growth and metabolite production are influenced by numerous factors. This study investigated the chemical profiles of Fusarium pseudensiforme extracts under different culture conditions and evaluated their herbicidal potential against Phaseolus lathyroides. Crude ethyl acetate extracts were obtained from F. pseudensiforme grown in submerged fermentation using four culture media, potato dextrose broth (PDB), malt extract broth (MEB), Czapek Dox broth (CDB), and yeast extract sucrose broth (YSB), at 25-35 °C for 14 days. The results revealed that increasing incubation temperature led to a marked reduction in fungal growth, crude yield, and herbicidal efficacy across all media. Incubation at 25 °C resulted in the highest values for all parameters, particularly in YSB medium (p < 0.05). Morphological analysis of treated P. lathyroides seedlings indicated that YSB extract significantly inhibited hypocotyl and lateral root development. GC-MS analysis revealed that PDB, MEB, CDB, and YSB extract contained 34, 27, 23, and 18 chemical components, respectively, with 17 common across all media. These variations in chemical profiles likely contribute to the observed differences in phytotoxic performance. Notably, as incubation temperature increased, YSB extracts exhibited higher accumulation of alkylated benzene derivatives, which are known to exhibit low herbicidal activity, thereby reducing overall efficacy, highlighting temperature-induced alterations in metabolite biosynthesis. Taken together, these results provide insights that could facilitate the scaling up of fungal allelochemical production and enhance the practical application of fungal-derived natural herbicides in weed management.
Keywords: Allelochemical, Fungal allelopathy, Weed control, Chemical diversity, Fusarium pseudensiforme
