ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST PLANT PATHOGEN Colletotrichum sp.
D. SHARMILA *
Department of Biotechnology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Selaiyur, Chennai-73, India.
E. KOWSALYA
Department of Biotechnology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Selaiyur, Chennai-73, India.
R. KAMALAMBIGESWARI
Department of Biotechnology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Selaiyur, Chennai-73, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The antifungal activity of eight medicinal plants to be specific Aloe vera, Ocimum sanctum,Cenetella asiatica, Piper betle, Calotropis gigantea, Vitex negundo, Ocimum basilicum and Azadirachta indica were determined against plant pathogenic organism(Collectotrichum falcatum causing Red rot of sugarcane) Colletotrichum sp. Agar well – diffusion assay".
The plants leaves were extracted with different solvents like chloroform, ethanol and Distilled water The results revealed that among all the plants Vitex negundo exhibited highest antifungal activity (24 mm) against the plant pathogen tested over other plants.
Keywords: Medicinal plants, Colletotrichum sp., red rot disease, antifungal activity, pathogen