The Effect of Tridemorph on the Growth of Fusarium Oxysporum

Fusarium oxysporum also referred to as 'agent green' is a fungus that causes vascular wilt disease in more than a hundred species of plantation crops. Besides, it is also found to have a broad ecological tolerance and is highly resistant to antifungal agents. Hence, it is imperative that effectives antifungal agents are developed against this pathogen. Sterol Demethylation Inhibitings (DMI) fungicides constitute the largest and the most important group of antifungal agents used widely in both agriculture and medicine. These fungicides inhibit the C-14 demethylation of 24-methylene dihydrolanosterol, a precursor of the cell membrane component, ergosterol in fungi. Tridemorph, a DMI fungicide, is known to be active against nearly all taxonomic groups of fungi even at low concentrations. In this study, the effect of tridemorph on the biology of Fusarium oxsporum has been evaluated. The influence of the fungicide in some of the morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters has been studied. The fungicide was observed to exert a significant effect on all major cellular mechanisms. Another interesting observation i.e. the ability of the fungicide to act as a photo-sensitizer thereby exacerbating the effect of the fungicide was also made during the course of the study.