Evaluation of different essential oils against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici causing wilt in tomato

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller) crop suffers from several diseases, among which wilting caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is one of the serious diseases observed regularly in tomato growing areas. Therefore, efforts were made to evaluate bio efficacy of the different essential oils in vivo (pot culture) condition against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici by root immersion method. Among six essential oils tested in vivo, the per cent disease reduction of test pathogen decreased with the increase in concentrations of the essential oils tested against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. The highest average disease reduction was recorded with clove oil (91.19%), followed by citronella oil (88.23%), neem oil (79.06%), mustard oil (73.52%) and garlic oil (44.11%), respectively. The eucalyptus oil was found less effective with (38.24%) disease reduction of the test pathogen over untreated control.