Efficacy of leaf extracts and essential oils of some plant species against Penicillium expansum rot of apples

Efficacy of aqueous leaf extracts of 20 plant species and 3 essential oils were tested to manage Penicillium expansum rot of apple cv Red Delicious. Leaf extract of Adiantum capillus venaris was most effective as pre-infection dip treatment followed by leaf extract of Thuja occidentalis and Eucalyptus globulus, which showed non-significant difference in their activities. Leaf extract of Azadirachta indica significantly reduced P. expansum rot as post-infection dip treatment. Essential oils of Mentha and Ocimum species tested at three concentrations (1.0, 0.5 and 0.25%) caused significant reduction in rot. However, higher concentration (1.0%) of these oils were phytotoxic.