Progressive Agriculture

Methyl derivatives of phenol, viz., a-cresol, m-cresol and p-cresol, wen~ evaluated for their efficacy on germination and germ tube length of conidia of Aspergillus parasiticus (Spear); in vitro. The investigations revealed that these phenolic compounds significantly inhibited the germination and germ tube length of their conidia of the fungus. With increasing levels of concentration (0, 100 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, 2500 ppm and 5000 ppm) of these phenolic compounds there was increase in per cent inhibition of germination and per cent reduction in germ tube length of the conidia. However, with increasing period of incubation, there was less inhibition of conidial germination and germ tube length was observed. Among the methyl derivatives, o-cresol was most effective by p-cresol and m-cresol was least effective.