<i style="">In vitro</i> antifungal study of the efficacy of some plant extracts for inhibition of <i style="">Alternaria</i> <i style="">carthami </i>fungus

Abstract

The antifungal activity of aqueous extracts of seven plant species, viz. bulbs of Garlic (<i style="">Allium</i> <i style="">sativum </i>Linn.) and leaves of Datura (<i style="">Datura</i> <i style="">metel </i>Linn.), Lantana (<i style="">Lantana</i> <i style="">camara </i>Linn.), Eucalyptus (<i style="">Eucalyptus</i> hybrid), Neem (<i style="">Azadirachta</i> <i style="">indica </i>A. Juss.), Madagascar periwinkle (<i style="">Catharanthus roseus </i>G. Don) and Holy basil (<i style="">Ocimum</i> <i style="">sanctum </i>Linn.) against safflower leaf spot disease-causing fungus, <i style="">Alternaria</i> <i style="">carthami</i>, under <i style="">in vitro </i>conditions was investigated. Linear growth reduction of the pathogen on PDA plates at 20% plant extract concentration was recorded seven days after inoculation. <i style="">A</i>. <i style="">sativum</i> bulb extract exhibited maximum inhibition of the pathogenic fungus (48.68%) followed by <i style="">D</i>.<i style=""> metel </i>(44.25%), while <i style="">O</i>. <i style="">sanctum</i> extract showed the least inhibitory effect (25.02%). The observations indicate the efficacy of aqueous plant extracts as potential inhibitors of <i style="">Alternaria</i> <i style="">carthami</i>.