Reviews in Food and Agriculture (RFNA) 2(2) (2021) 63-68 Quick Response Code Access this article online Website: www.rfna.com.my DOI: 10.26480/rfna.02.2021.63.68 Cite the Article: Sagar Bhandari, Pankaj Kumar Yadav, Abdulridha T Sarhan (2021). Botanical Fungicides; Current Status, Fungicidal Properties and Challenges for Wide Scale Adoption: A Review. Reviews in Food and Agriculture, 2(2): 63-68. ISSN: 2735-0312 (Online) CODEN: RFAEAW REVIEW ARTICLE Reviews in Food and Agriculture (RFNA) DOI: http://doi.org/10.26480/rfna.02.2021.63.68 BOTANICAL FUNGICIDES; CURRENT STATUS, FUNGICIDAL PROPERTIES AND CHALLENGES FOR WIDE SCALE ADOPTION: A REVIEW Sagar Bhandari a , Pankaj Kumar Yadav a* , Abdulridha T Sarhan b a Faculty of Agriculture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal b Professor, Microbiology branch, Hilla University Collage, Babylon, Iraq *Corresponding Author Email: premsaimon2@gmail.com This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History: Received 10 February 2021 Accepted 18 March 2021 Available online 03 May 2021 About 70-80% losses in agricultural production due to microbial disease is caused by fungal pathogens. There are around 8,000 fungal species that cause 100,000 diseases in plants. It is impossible to control such a large species of fungi with chemical fungicides alone. Even if it is made possible, it would bring negative impacts to the environment and human health. Thus, it is a high time to seek an alternative to chemical fungicides which should be eco-friendly. Botanical fungicides can be the viable and sustainable alternative in this regard. A number of researches have proved the fungicidal properties of phytochemicals. They are easily degradable; maintain soil properties and safe to the environment and human. In the present context, researchers are showing interest towards botanical fungicides. Nevertheless, their commercialization and wide-scale adoption have not yet achieved. Thus, this study aims to reveal the current status and fungicidal properties of various potential plants and, also to investigate challenges for its adoption in commercial scale through critical analysis of the related literatures. Lack of sufficient knowledge and extension facilities at the farmer's level and slow result as compared to chemical fungicides are the major reasons behind their poor adoption. Thus, it is a high time for the collaboration among researchers, policy makers, businessman and farmers for the exploration, legalization, proper marketing and wide-scale adoption of botanical fungicides. If the approaches like sustainable agriculture, organic farming and integrated pest management (IPM) need to be extended, focuses should be given towards botanical fungicides. KEYWORDS Botanical fungicides, Present scenario, Antifungal properties, Adoption, Challenges. 1. INTRODUCTION Fungi are the most damaging agents in agriculture sector among all the other groups of microorganisms. Fungal pathogens have caused havoc for all populations including farmers, researchers, agri-entrepreneurs, policymakers and consumers (Fletcher et al., 2006). Losses suffered by crops due to microbial disease is 16%, out of which 70-80% losses were caused by fungi (Moore, 2020). Agrios reported that about 8000 fungal species can cause around 100, 000 diseases in plants (Agrios, 2005). A group researcher revealed that we consume only 6% of the total dry biomass produce due to such losses during production (Alexander et al., 2017). The use of chemical fungicides to control plant diseases has begun since 1882 with the introduction of sulfur fungicides (McCallan, 2012). Chemical fungicides are reported to have effective control over fungal pathogens. Nevertheless, their long-term use has resulted great harm to the environment. They degrade soil properties, bring risk to human health and cause negative impact to non-target organisms. They are also reported enhancing resistant capacity in fungal pathogens (Dovas et al., 1976; Cooke et al., 2006; Hahn et al., 2014). Furthermore, their residues reach to the water sources through runoff and result adverse effects to the aquatic ecosystem. Botanical fungicides, on the other hand can be the viable and sustainable alternative in this regard. Botanical fungicides are the plant extracts, essential oils, gums, resins, etc that have potential mode of action to control fungal pathogens. These phytochemicals have the ability to control fungal pathogens in vitro and in vivo (Copping and Duke, 2007; Jalili et al., 2010; Romanzzi et al., 2012). Cowan reveals there are more than 250,000 higher plant species that possess bioactive compounds which can be applied as agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals (Cowan, 1999). There is no exact record for the first use of botanical fungicides, nevertheless the use of organic fungicides has begun since 1934 (McCallan, 2012). Botanical fungicides are environmentally safer and eco- friendly. The best part of them is that they are persistent for short time and are easily degradable. They do not cause harm to the useful microorganisms of soil and hence, help to maintain soil property. They lack cross-resistance due to their different mode of action than that of synthetic fungicides (Vidhyasekaran, 2004). Botanical fungicides can be easily prepared by farmers themselves at home, or they can afford it due to its lower price as compared to chemical fungicides. The adoption rate of botanical fungicides is high for those farmers who use plant extracts as a medicine for human disease (Nuzhat and Vidysagar, 2013).