Control of Fusarium oxysporum causing wilt in Banana through Plant extracts

From wilted banana plants, 19 fungal species belonging to 13 genera and two mycelia sterile were isolated. On the basis of % occurrence, Fusarium showed maximum in rhizosphere soil (83.4) and minimum in rhizoplane (46.3) while Fusarium oxysporum showed 71.6% occurrence in infected stem and 51.6% in collar region. The pathogenicity of this dominant pathogen confirmed that it is responsible for banana wilting causing similar wilting symptoms. In vitro evaluation, plant leaf extracts showed more or less inhibitory effect on mycelial growth. Extracts of Ranunculus sceleratus showed highest inhibition of mycelial growth (97.3%) against test fungus. Ageratum conyzoides and Ageratum haustonianum also showed significant results showing inhibition 90.1 and 89.3%, respectively.