The Antifungal Activities of Chestnut Flowers Crude Polysaccharides Against Fusarium graminearum and Effects of Promotion for Wheat Growth

ABSTRACT China is renowned for the substantial production volumes with its chestnut industry. As a byproduct of the chestnut, the chestnut flowers have been demonstrated to possess both excellent medicinal value and potential economic value. In this work, a water extraction and alcohol precipitation technique was carried out to harvest crude polysaccharides from the chestnut blossoms. An array of analytical methods was employed to meticulously demarcate the chemical and physical characteristics of these polysaccharides, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X‐Ray diffraction (XRD). Moreover, their antifungal activity against the pathogen Fusarium graminearum ( F. graminearum ) was investigated. The findings reveal that the extracted crude chestnut flower polysaccharides (CFCP) possess the hallmark chemical structure of polysaccharides, and show robust antifungal properties both in vitro and in vivo. CFCP exhibited dose‐dependent antifungal activity against F. graminearum , with a maximum mycelial growth inhibition rate of 65.02% at 2000 µg/mL and a spore germination inhibition rate of 81.3% at 1000 µg/mL in vitro. CFCP also promoted wheat growth, increasing the germination rate to 86.7% at 500 µg/mL and enhanced the activities of defense‐related enzymes. Therefore, CFCP has considerable research and application potential in agricultural production.