Fungal Control Through Plant Phenolics: A Biotic Constraint

Agriculture is a prime necessity at this given point in time. Fifty percent of global activities revolve around agriculture. Studies from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that 20–40% of crops are destroyed globally due to pests. They are known to cause a major loss to the economy leading to global poverty. Fungal pestilence among them is a burning issue as 85% of plant diseases are caused by fungi. They are a source of biotic stress in plants. Biotic stress includes any live flora or fauna that is known to be pathogenic to plants. To counteract the effects of such pathogenic fungi, plants tend to neutralize the pestilence effect through plant secondary metabolites or polyphenols. Polyphenols or phenolic substances can be explained as the naturally occurring chemical compounds in plants that succor them from biotic and abiotic stress. They have formed from the amalgamation of shikimate; phenylpropanoids; and flavonoid pathways. These derivatives can nurture and endorse many developmental aspects of the plant uniquely counteracting the stress constraints simultaneously. Most polyphenols play a key role as antioxidants against oxidative stress inducers. Hampering the biotic stress restraints using these secondary phytochemicals has been a major milestone in the respective field of plant biology. In this book chapter, we weighed up the pros and cons of the thwarting response of plant-derived polyphenols to the fungal stress constraints, furthermore providing insight into the biosynthesis and biochemistry of the phenolic compounds, their counteract mechanism against fungal toxins, and the aftermath of fungal pestilence on crops and in vitro in a long run.