Essential oils and hydrolates in control of plant pathogens

Abstract

Under conditions of intensive plant production and intensive international trade with plant material, coupled with climate changes, plant pathogens became one of the major limiting factors in food and feed production. Besides these extremely favorable conditions for reproduction and dissemination of plant pathogens, resistance development to available control tools and ecotoxicological properties of these tools show that plant pathogen control has never been more challenging. Development of alternative, eco-friendly control tools against phytopathogens, became a necessity of contemporary agriculture. Essential oils are mixtures of complex volatile compounds. They are synthesized through secondary metabolic pathways in many plant species. Essential oils are normally extracted by hydro-distillation or steam distillation of plant tissues. Hydrolates are co-products of the distillation formed in significantly higher quantities than the target substance. Hydrolate represents aromatic water containing approximately 0.1% essential oil compounds.