Antifungal activity of some plant extracts against guava wilt pathogen

Guava wilt pathogen was isolated from soil of guava orchards and identified as Fusarium solani on the basis of its morphological and cultural characteristics. The resistance of this pathogen to the wide variety of chemicals has stimulated the search of new alternatives for control measures. Use of plants extract is one of the most promising, effective, safer and ecofriendly method to eradicate the pathogens from soil. The present paper aims at the study on efficacy of four plant extracts viz., Eugenia caryophyllata (Clove), Moringa oleifera (Sehjan), Trachyspermum captivum (Ajwain) and Zingiber officinale (Zinger) against Fusarium solani at 10%, 25% and 50% concentrations. Among all four plant extracts tested, Eugenia caryophyllata was found to be most effective against Fusarium solani on 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th day at 50% concentration and conquered the colony growth by 100% compared to control followed by Trachyspermum captivum and Moringa oleifera, 3^rdday (91.70% and 67.42%), 5^th day (92.74% and 72.35%) and 7^th day (94.35% and 78.04%) respectively. Zingiber officinale has shown least efficiency to suppress the colony growth of Fusarium solani on 3^rd day (60.65%), 5^th day (63.55%) and 7^th day (73.50%) after inoculation at 10%, 25% and 50% concentration over control.