UTILIZATION OF BETEL LEAVES EXTRACT TO PREVENT THE GROWTH OF Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. capsici CAUSING FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE IN BELL PEPPER

Abstract

Betel (Piper betle Linn.) is commonly used in Indonesian traditional medicine due to its antimicrobial properties, thus it is often used as an ingredient in natural pesticides. The effectiveness of betel leaf extract as a control for Fusarium oxysporum in several plants showed it’s potential to control the fungi in bell pepper. F. oxysporum f.sp. capsici is one of the important pathogens causing Fusarium wilt disease in bell pepper. It is one of the most devastating plant diseases due to its ability to cause a crop failure. The test on the inhibitory capacity of betel leaf extract on the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. capsici were carried out by growing the fungi on PDA mixed with various concentrations of betel leaf extracts. The results showed that betel leaf extract treatment at 0.02% concentration was able to inhibit the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. capsici in PDA at 95.54%. The full inhibition of colony growth (100%) was achieved in the extract treated with the concentration of 0.03%. Meanwhile treatment of 0.17% betel leaf extract was able to inhibit the growth of F. oxysporum f.sp. capsici on bell pepper stems. Following this result, fractionation of the betel leaf extract by column chromatography was conducted, resulting in 44 fractions. The bioassays of those fractions showed that, there were seven fractions that reveal inhibition capability against F. oxysporum f.sp. capsici.