ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1675469
This article is part of the Research TopicMulti-stressor Effects on Soil Ecosystem BiodiversityView all articles
Evaluation of alternatives to replace or reduce viticulture conventional fungicides: Eucalyptus globulus essential oil and aqueous extract
Provisionally accepted
- Universidade do Porto GreenUPorto Centro de Investigacao em Producao Agroalimentar Sustentavel, Vairão, Portugal
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The use of plant protection products is often related to environmental contamination, including copper-based products as the Bordeaux Mixture (BM) and synthetic fungicides like folpet (active substance), both of which face use restriction from the European Union due to their toxicity. As alternatives, plant-based products such as Eucalyptus globulus extracts (EE) or essential oils (EO) are considered more sustainable and environmentally friendly products with known biocidal properties, but their impacts on non-target species remain poorly known. These products might be effective not only on existing pathogenic species that infect grapevines, but also on other potential pathogens, emerging in a context of climate change. This study aimed to evaluate the fungicidal effects of E. globulus EE and EO, alone or in combination with BM and folpet through growth inhibition assays using target (Botrytis cinerea), potentially target (Chaetomium elatum) and non-target (Lentinus sajor caju and Phanerochaete chrysosporium) fungal species, under in vitro conditions. Different exposure methods were also assessed. Results showed that EE alone inhibited the growth of the fungi species, though sensitivity varied with the application methods. The combination of EE with BM was only effective when incorporated into the growth medium, becoming a promising alternative to reduce BM use, however, the same cannot be said for the mixture of EE and folpet. E. globulus EO effectively inhibited the target fungi growth, still, the non-target species were also affected, highlighting that a careful evaluation of plant-based products is of utmost importance, considering the effects that they have on non-target organisms of the ecosystem.
Keywords: Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Bordeaux mixture, Folpet, Growth inhibition assays, Plant-based products
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 02 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fernandes, Duarte, Paiva, Oliveira-Pacheco, Cachada and Pereira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Beatriz Fernandes, up201503352@edu.fc.up.pt
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.