A Spanish research team from the Department of Plant Biology, of the Faculty of Science of the University of A Coruña, is studying how to combat various fungal diseases with a component extracted from peppers.
The study focuses on the use of capsinoids (distinct from capsaicin), found in peppers, to combat fungal diseases such as Botrytis, Fusarium and others.
Capsinoids are substances which are structurally similar to capsaicin, which is responsible for the hotness in spicy chili peppers, but which do not have the capacity to cause that burning sensation in the mouth.
The team is led by Jose Díaz Varela, Professor of Plant Physiology and PhD in Biology, with funding from the Government of Galicia, and intends to use the fungicidal properties of capsinoids to prevent and combat fungal diseases with natural elements.
Source: hortoinfo.es