Eco-friendly and Safe Role of Juniperus procera in Controlling of Fungal Growth and Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Radial growth Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium oxysporum was determined on medium amended with Juniperus procera methanolic extract. The radial growth of A. flavus and F. oxysporum was significantly reduced at 150 and 200 mg. The percentage of reduction was 16.55%, 48.54% and 48.64%, 59.86% for A. flavus and F. oxysporum, respectively. However, addition of J. procera extract to Carbomar significantly reduced radial growth compared with using Carbomar alone. On the other hand, with addition of the J. procera extract, the productivity percentage of aflatoxins B2, aflatoxins B1, sterigmatocystin, cyclopiazonic acid and fusaric acid was reduced by 100, 67.44, 96.28, 60.33 and 8.36%, respectively as a result of applied J. procera extract. Moreover, the extract of J. procera significantly reduced the F. oxysporum colony-forming units (cfu) in the cultivated soil with Raphanus sativus at 5 days. F. oxysporum populations at 100 and 200 mg of J. procera extract were 25.33×103 and 21.33×103 cfu g-1, respectively. However, when added with Carbomar, extract of J. procera strongly reduced F. oxysporum populations (9.33×103 cfu g-1). In addition, the J. procera extract reduced the mean disease rating of wilt disease of R. sativus caused by F. oxysporum. Less content of chlorophyll a and b (3.56 and 1.65 mg/g fresh weight, respectively at P<0.01) was detected in infected R. sativus than treated with J. procera extract or Carbomar.