ABSTRACT
At present, approximately 200 different fungicides have been introduced into agriculture and horticulture worldwide. Despite the enormous advances in chemical management of fungal diseases, some of the important plant pathogens such as vascular wilt, anthracnoses, take-all of wheat, and other root infections remain uncontrolled by current fungicidal chemicals (Knight et al. 1997). The build-up of resistant strains of target pathogens and the increasing public concern about synthetic fungicides have intensified the need for better and safer compounds in terms of novel modes of action, low rates of use, and low toxicological and environmental risk (Godfrey 1994; Tanaka and Ōmura 1993). As the environmental and commercial requirements for new fungicides become more demanding, it is increasingly difficult to discover new class of compounds to justify the effort and the costs of development. In order to get a chance to discover new fungicides that meet the mentioned characteristics, the exploitation of biologically active natural products is becoming mainstream in antifungal agent research.
