Metabolites of the rust mycoparasite, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata for management of rust in pearl millet

The mycoparasite, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata was isolated from the uredospores of pearl millet rust pathogen Puccinia substriata with promising natural parasitic association. The culture had definite margin, sometimes submerged in media and sporulation occurred on the third week of incubation. The mycelium was hyaline and septate. The secondary metabolites were explored to contain the uredospore production thereby reduce the rust incidence. The solvent extraction method was used to extract the secondary metabolites produced from crude extracts of S. paraphysata. The fractions of the secondary metabolites were analyzed using GC-MS. The major components present were Phenol, Decane, 3-Butoxy-1,1,1,5,5,5, hexamethyl-3-(trimethylsiloxy) trisiloxane, Butanoic acid, 3-methyl-3-methyl butyl ester, which were reported to have anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant properties. The crude metabolite of S. paraphysata in the dilution of 1:5 recorded the maximum lysis of the uredospores of P. substriata (92.67%). Further, SEM study showed severely lysed broken cell wall which led to leakage of cellular contents. The spraying of secondary metabolites on rust infected pearl millet crop reduced the incidence of rust. The present study paved the way for the development of new biologically originated molecule for the management of pearl millet rust disease.