Nematicidal activity of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid purified from Terminalia nigrovenulosa bark against Meloidogyne incognita

•Terminalia nigrovenulosa extracts showed high nematicidal activity against Meloidogyne incognita.•Ethyl acetate fraction of TNB demonstrated the highest nematicidal activity.•3,4-DHBA purified from TNB possess the high nematicidal activity against M. incognita.•Changes in the shape of the eggs were determined after incubation with a 3,4-DHBA.

In this study, the 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-DHBA) from Terminalia nigrovenulosa bark (TNB) was purified and its in vitro nematicidal activity was investigated against Meloidogyne incognita. The purification of 3,4-DHBA used a silica gel column and Sephadex LH-20 chromatography combined with thin-layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. Structural identification of the 3,4-DHBA was conducted using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13C NMR, and liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Nematicidal activity bioassays revealed that 3,4-DHBA treatment resulted in 33.3, 47.5, 72.5 and 94.2% J2 mortality at 0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mg/ml, respectively after 12 h incubation. J2 mortality was increased significantly (P < 0.0001) with increasing incubation time in the range of 54.2-94.2% from 3 to 9 h after incubation with 3,4-DHBA (1.0 mg/ml), but with no significant difference observed where the incubation time was increased from 9 to 12 h. The 3,4-DHBA treatment resulted in 33.3, 65.0, 76.7 and 85.0% hatch inhibition at 0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mg/ml, respectively, 3 days after incubation. Changes in the shape of the eggs were determined after incubation for 1 day with a 3,4-DHBA concentration of 1.0 mg/ml.