Anti–Fungal Activity of Some Botanicals On  Helminthosporium Infestans, Causal Agent of  Leaf Spot Disease in Eggplant,  (Solanum Aethiopicum L.)

Mbadianya; J.I; Echezona; B.C; Ugwuoke K.I.Wokocha; R.C

Volume : II, Issue : VI, June - 2013

Anti–Fungal Activity of Some Botanicals On Helminthosporium Infestans, Causal Agent of Leaf Spot Disease in Eggplant, (Solanum Aethiopicum L.)

Mbadianya, J. I, Echezona, B. C, Ugwuoke K. I. Wokocha, R. C

Abstract :

The effect of ethanolic extracts of Carica papaya and Azadirachta indica leaves, Zingiber officinale stem and Garcinia cola seeds at 0.030g/ml, 0.060g/ml, 0.120g/ml and 0.250g/ml concentrations on the leaf spot disease in eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum L.) caused by Helminthosporium infestans was tested in the laboratory using Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA). All the plant extracts assayed inhibited the growth of the fungus at different degrees when compared with the untreated control 14 days after inoculation. At 3 days of inoculation, the highest anti -fungal activities were observed for seed extracts of G. kola (90%) at 0.0120g/ml followed by leaf extracts of C. papaya (59.54%) at 0.250g/ml, then 0.030g/ml (59.15%) and 0.060g/ml (55.80%) of G. kola. At these concentrations, leaves and seeds of G. cola and C. papaya respectively were significantly (P<0.05) more toxic to H. infestans than the other plant extracts tested. The result also indicated that these plant extracts were significantly (P<0.05) more efficacious in inhibiting the growth of H. infestans than the fungicide; Kocide and Ridomil at 7 days of inoculation. The seed extracts of G. kola still proved more toxic than Kocide even after 14 days. The result of this study therefore showed that these plant extracts could be explored as an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic fungicides in the control of H. infestans on African eggplant.