Crop protective effects of formulated neem and karanja oils on cucumber and cannabis plants

农业作物需要一系列密集型农业投入，如杀虫剂、生长调节剂、肥料和其他合成和有机产品。食用植物的有机生产需要对所有可能的病虫害控制途径进行仔细评估，需要对有效性数据和行动模式进行充分研究。在加拿大，用于疾病控制的有机认证产品的来源目前仅限于一些众所周知的和广泛使用的材料，包括细菌和螯合化学品的配方。植物提取物引起了广泛的兴趣，但产品的一致性和稳定性还没有使其广泛使用。植物天然含有广泛的酚类化合物、萜类化合物、类黄酮、植物抗毒素和其他具有潜在抗真菌特性的化学物质。在这项研究中，来自印度印楝树（印楝）和Karanj树（水黄皮）的配方提取物将被测试用于管理影响温室黄瓜植物的两种重要真菌病原体，这两种病原体最近成为医用大麻（Cannabis sativa L.）生产的限制因素。也种植了原料。这些树种在种子、叶子和树皮（印楝）中含有高水平的四降三萜类化合物（柠檬苦素），在种子中也含有高水平的类黄酮（卡兰贾）。这些制剂的体外毒性将对两种病原体的菌丝生长和孢子萌发进行测试。随后将评估温度和pH值对产品活性的影响。温室实验将评估制剂是否对两种植物物种的植物生长（测量为高度和干重）以及根（镰刀菌属）和叶（白粉病）上的疾病减少具有活性。这项研究将调查是否诱导酚类化合物，抗氧化剂和信号分子，如茉莉酸和水杨酸的水平，在处理过的植物增加。这些结果将为这些植物衍生产品如何影响植物生长的机制提供更多的见解，并为植物提取物的有机用途提供额外的机会，以保护加拿大有价值的园艺作物。

Agricultural crop plants require a range of intensive agricultural inputs, such as pesticides, growth regulators,fertilizers and other synthetic and organic products. The organic production of food plants requires a carefulassessment of all possible avenues for pest and disease control, and efficacy data and modes of action need tobe well studied. Sources of organically-certified products for disease control in Canada are currently limited toa few well-known and widely used materials that include formulations of bacteria and chelated chemicals.Plant extracts have attracted wide interest but the consistency and stability of the product has not enabled theirwidespread use. Plants naturally contain a wide range of phenolic compounds, terpenoids, flavonoids,phytoalexins and other chemicals that have potential antifungal properties. In this research, formulated extractsderived from the Indian neem tree (Azadirachta indica) and the Karanj tree (Pongamia pinnata) will be testedfor management of two important fungal pathogens affecting greenhouse cucumber plants, and which havebecome recent limiting factors to production of medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) also grown ingreenhouses. These tree species contain high levels of tetranortriterpenoid (limonoids) in seeds, leaves and bark(neem) as well as high levels of flavonoids (karanja) in seeds. The invitro toxicity of these formulations will betested against mycelial growth and spore germination of the two pathogens. This will be followed byassessment of temperature and pH effects on product activity. Greenhouse experiments will evaluate whetherthe formulations have activity on plant growth (measured as height and dry weight) as well as disease reductionon the roots (Fusarium) and leaves (powdery mildew) of the two plant species. The research will investigatewhether induced levels of phenolic compounds, antioxidants and signalling molecules such as jasmonic acidand salicylic acid, are increased in treated plants. The results will provide additional insights into themechanisms of how these plant-derived products can affect plant growth and provide additional opportunitiesfor organic uses of plant extracts for protection of valuable horticultural crops in Canada.