Antimicrobial activity of some rare endangered and threatened medicinal plants against phytopathogens

Abstract

Increase of environmental pollution due to use of pesticides is alarming. One of the alternatives is to reduce the pesticide use and use of botanicals as biocontrol agents. The present investigation was undertaken to test antifungal activity of four RET medicinal plants viz., Oroxylum indicum, Embelia ribes, Celastrus paniculatus, and Saraca asoca against four phytopathogens viz., Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria solani, and Phytophthora capsici was screened in-vitro. Aqueous leaf extract of E. ribes and O. indicumat 15% concentration provided a significant inhibition of mycelial growth of fungi. E. ribes leaf extract inhibited the mycelial growth of A. solani and F. oxysporum upto 86.52% and 43.26% respectively, whereas leaf extract of O. indicum inhibited the fungal growth of S. rolfsii up to 80.39%. Thus the present study revealed that these two plant extracts have proved to be effective as bio control agents for suppressing the growth of phyto pathogens.