Plant essential oils (EO) possess antifungal properties due to the presence of terpenoids and phenolics capable of damaging microbial cell membranes. The compounds present in EO could represent a valid alternative to synthetic fungicides in rice crop protection, especially in Europe, where the available plant protection products are increasingly scarce, particularly for managing seed-borne fungal pathogens like Fusarium fujikuroi Nirenberg, the causal agent of bakanae disease. Bakanae is a major concern in Europe for seed producers, which often fail to comply with the strict regulatory limits on the presence of the pathogen in the field, resulting in the rejection of the seed crop from marketing and economic losses. The present work was aimed at studying 1) the in vitro effect of EO derived compounds against F. fujikuroi and 2) their efficacy in disease management under field conditions applied as seed treatments. Results confirmed the in vitro antifungal activity of tested compounds: specifically, thymol (0.025% vol/vol), terpinen-4-ol (0.1%), and eugenol (0.05%) showed strong antifungal activity against all the tested F. fujikuroi strains. Two-years, two-locations open field trials showed that seeds treated with thymol (20%) and eugenol (5%) significantly reduced bakanae incidence compared to untreated control, without any phytotoxicity effect on rice seed. The efficacy of these two compounds in managing the disease without affecting germination rates was comparable to the commercially available prochloraz and triticonazole formulation, considered as the positive control. Our results suggest that thymol and eugenol could be used as alternative fungicides in innovative formulations for seed dressing, with the advantage of being compliant with the European IPM framework and organic farming legislation.

由于存在能够破坏微生物细胞膜的萜类化合物和酚类物质，植物精油 (EO) 具有抗真菌特性。化合物存在于EO可以表示在稻作物保护合成的杀真菌剂，尤其是在欧洲，其中可用的植物保护产品越来越匮乏，特别是用于管理像种子传播的真菌病原体的有效替代镰孢苗病菌尼伦伯格，的致病原恶苗疾病。果苗是欧洲种子生产商的一个主要关注点，他们往往不遵守对田间病原体存在的严格监管限制，导致种子作物被拒绝销售和经济损失。目前的工作旨在研究 1) EO 衍生化合物对F. fujikuroi 的体外作用和 2) 它们在用作种子处理的田间条件下在疾病管理中的功效。结果证实了测试化合物的体外抗真菌活性：特别是百里酚 (0.025% vol/vol)、terpinen-4-ol (0.1%) 和丁香酚 (0.05%) 对所有测试的F. fujikuroi均表现出很强的抗真菌活性菌株。两年、两个地点的露地试验表明，与未处理的对照相比，用百里酚 (20%) 和丁香酚 (5%) 处理的种子显着降低了果核发生率，对水稻种子没有任何植物毒性影响。这两种化合物在不影响发芽率的情况下控制疾病的功效与作为阳性对照的市售丙氯唑和曲菌唑制剂相当。我们的研究结果表明，百里酚和丁子香酚可用作拌种创新配方中的替代杀菌剂，其优势在于符合欧洲 IPM 框架和有机农业法规。