Antifungal Activity of Some Local Botanicals of Assam against Pythium aphanidermatum Inciting Storage Rot of Ginger

Abstract

Pythium aphanidermatum causes post harvest rot of ginger which resulted in huge losses in quality as well as quantity of ginger. Concern over the use of agro-chem. to manage the pathogen raising the risk of food toxicity so plant extracts might be a potential alternatives to synthetic fungicides. In the study of antifungal activity of botanicals, ten botanicals (Acorus calamus, Allamanda cathertica, Allium cepa, Allium sativum, Curcuma longa, Datura wrightii, Lasia spinosa, Laurus nobilis, Ocimum sanctum and piper betle) were evaluated against Pythium aphanidermatum by poison food technique. Aqueous extracts (20%) of A. sativum, A. cathertica and L. nobilis significantly inhibited the growth of fungal pathogen. These three most effective botanicals were further tested at four different concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 20 per cent) and highest inhibition was exhibited by A. sativum (94.44%) at 20 per cent concentration followed by A. sativum (85.78%) at 15 per cent, A. cathertica (83.33%) at 20 per cent and A. sativum (76.44%) at 10 per cent concentration