Antifungal effects of botanical extracts against sweet potato root tuber rot fungal pathogens

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, P.O. Box TL 1882, Tamale, Ghana

2 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, P.O. Box TL 1882, Tamale, Ghana

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is an important root tuber crop prone to post-harvest losses, mainly due to rot. Among several factors, fungal pathogens are a major cause of sweet potato root tuber rot. The study evaluated the efficacy of aqueous and ethanol extracts of bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), and holy basil (Ocimum sanctum) in managing sweet potato root tuber rot fungi. The extracts were screened for phytochemical constituents. Sweet potato root tuber rot fungal pathogens were isolated, and their virulence was determined by inoculating them into healthy sweet potato root tubers. The resulting infection lesions were then measured. The antifungal activities of the plant extracts against the mycelial growth of isolated sweet potato root tuber rot fungal pathogens were determined in vitro using the food poison method. The phytochemicals alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, and phytosterols were detected in the plant extracts. Among the isolated fungal pathogens, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Trichoderma harzianum, and Rhizopus stolonifera, A. niger caused significantly higher (P

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics