Natural Herbicides by Phytopathogenic Fungi–Strategic Approaches for Discovering Fungal Phytotoxins to Control Weeds

Weeds are one of the most serious plant pests that farmers are forced to combat since the development of agriculture using different methods including mechanic and agronomy strategies. Weeds have generated significant losses of agriculture production, constituting a serious impediment for agricultural activities in reforestation practices and in important infrastructures. All these serious problems have induced the expansive and massive use of synthetic herbicides, which represents one of the main causes of environmental pollution, as well as serious risks for human and animal health. An alternative environmentally friendly control method could be the use of bioherbicides based on suitably bio formulated natural products, of which the main ones are fungal phytotoxins. This review paper represents the work that concerns fungal phytotoxins with potential herbicidal activity in order to obtain their efficacy as mycoherbicides for practical application in agriculture.