Table 2.
Fungal bioherbicides and their impacts on targeted weeds.
| Fungal Source | Target Weed(s) | Effect a | Mode of Action | Commercial | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternaria cassiae |
Cassia obtusifolia (sicklepod), Cassia occidentalis (coffee senna), Crotalaria spectablis (showy crotalaria) |
- | Causes parasitic leaf blight and damage to the plant. | Casst™ (USA). No longer available. |
[42] |
| Alternaria destruens | Cuscuta spp. (dodder) | - | Inhibits plant growth and development. | Smolder®
(USA). No longer available. |
[51,52] |
| Albifimbria verrucaria, formally Myrothecium verrucaria | Pueraria lobata (kudzu) | **** | Inhibits seed germination and early plant growth. | X | [25,53] |
| Chondrostereum purpureum | Prunus serotina (black/wild cherry) | - | Prevents stumps from resprouting and increases woody decay. | BioChon™ (The Netherlands). No longer available. |
[43] |
| Chondrostereum purpureum | hardwoods and deciduous trees and shrubs | - | Causes stump decay and prevents resprouting. | Chontrol™/EcoClear™/ MycoTech™ |
[6,50] |
| Colletotrichum coccodes | Abutilon theophrasti Medicus (velvetleaf) | - | Causes inoculation damage and prevents plant growth and production. | Velgo® (Canada). No longer available. |
[48,54] |
| Colletotrichum gloeosporioides | Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyard grass) | - | Causes severe infection and leaf spot disease in the plant. | Lubao 1 and Lubao 2 (China). Limited availability. |
[45,55] |
| Cuscuta chinensis Lamarck (Chinese dodder) and Cuscuta australis r brown (Australian dodder) | **** | ||||
| Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. aeschynomene | Aeschynomene virginica (jointvetch) | **** | Induces anthracnose lesions on the plants’ stems. | Collego™/LockDown™ | [7,9,44,56] |
| Aeschynomene indica (Indian jointvetch) | **** | ||||
| Sesbania exaltata (hemp sebania) | **** | ||||
| Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. malvae | Malva pusilla (round-leaved mallow) | - | Causes lesions within the plant’s flowers, leaves and stems. | BioMal® (Canada) No longer available. |
[57] |
| Colletotrichum truncatum | Bidens pilosa (beggartick) | **** | Inhibits plant growth and seed germination. | X | [58] |
| Cylindrobasidium laeve |
Acacia mearnsii (black wattle), Acacia pycnantha (golden wattle), Poa annua (winter grass) |
- | Accelerates the decomposition of stumps and roots. | Stumpout™ | [47,49] |
| Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. orthoceras | Orobanche spp. (broomrape) | *** | Causes lesions on the leaves. | X | [59] |
| Fusarium fujikuroi Sawada. | Cucumis sativus L. (cucumber) and Sorghum bicolour L. (great millet) | ** | Causes chlorosis and necrosis. | X | [60] |
| Gibbago trianthemae | Trianthema portulacastrum (horse purslane) | - | Causes stem blight and leaf spot disease | X | [61] |
| Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae, Macrophomina phaseolina and Neoscytalidium novaehollandiae | Parkinsonia aculeata (parkinsonia) | - | Produces harmful toxins and enzymes that disarm the plants’ defence mechanisms, leading to cell and tissue degradation. | Di-Bak Parkinsonia™ |
[46] |
| Phoma chenopodicola | Chenopodium album (lamb’s quarter) | - | Causes extensive necrotic lesions | X | [62] |
| Phoma macrostoma Montagne 94–44B | Broadleaf weeds such as Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) | - | Colonizes and passes into the root system which causes mycelium to obstruct nutrient uptake. | Phoma® | [16,63,64] |
| Phytophthora palmivora | Morrenia odorata (milkweed vine) | - | Causes a root infection in the plant which leads to its death. | DeVine® (USA). No longer available. |
[9,65] |
| Pseudolagarobasidium acaciicola | Acacia cyclops (coastal wattle) | **** | Causes seed mortality and plant death. | X | [66] |
| Puccinia canaliculata | Cyperus esculentus (yellow nutsedge) | - | Inhibits the reproductive process and seed germination in the species | Dr. Biosedge® (USA). No longer available. |
[67] |
| Puccinia thalaspeos | Isatis tinctoria (dyer’s woad) | - | Infects first-year plants and impacts flowering and seed formation in the following year. | Woad Warrior® | [7] |
| Sclerotinia minor | Araxacum officeinale (dandelion), broadleaf | - | Absorbs plant tissue. | Sarritor™ | [51,68] |
| Trichoderma koningiopsis | Euphorbia heterophylla (Mexican fire plant) | *** | Increases enzymatic material (cellulase and lipase) which causes increased damage to the plant. | X | [69] |
| Trichoderma polysporum (Louk: Fr.) Rifai. | Avena fatua (common wild oats) | **** | Produces several secondary metabolites that have antifungal activities and prevent plant growth and germination. | X | [70] |
| Chenopodium album (goosefoot) | **** | ||||
| Elsholtzia densa (dense Himalayan mint) | **** | ||||
| Lepyrodiclis holosteoides (false jagged chickweed) | **** | ||||
| Polygonum aviculare (common knotgrass) | |||||
| Polygonum lapathifolium (pale persicaria) |
a Effect: (-) = not applicable/available,** = 25–50%, *** = 50–75%, **** = 75–100% control/plant growth reduction. X = not commercially available.