Antifungal Effect of Five Aqueous Plant Extracts on Mycelial Growth of Penicillium Expansum Isolated from Rotted Yam Tubers in Storage

Gwa VI^1,2*, Nwankiti AO¹ and Ekefan EJ¹

¹Department of Crop and Environmental Protection, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
²Department of Crop Production and Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Gwa VI, Department of Crop Production and Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria.

Received: March 23, 2018; Published: May 25, 2018

Citation: Gwa VI., et al. “Antifungal Effect of Five Aqueous Plant Extracts on Mycelial Growth of Penicillium Expansum Isolated from Rotted Yam Tubers in Storage". Acta Scientific Agriculture 2.6 (2018).

Abstract

  Efficacy of medicinal plants such as Zingiber officinale Rosc., Piper nigrum Linn., Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Nicotiana tabacum Linn and Carica papaya Lam. as well as a synthetic fungicide (mancozeb) using three concentrations of plant extracts (30 g/L, 60 g/L and 90 g/L) and three concentrations of mancozeb (4 g/L, 8 g/L and 12 g/L) for the management of yam tuber rot fungal pathogen caused by Penicillium expansum isolated from rotted yam tubers in storage were carried out. Decayed and good tubers were got from farmers’ barns and P. expansum was isolated and identified from the rotted yam in the laboratory at Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. Pathogenicity test was conducted, and the result revealed that P. expansum was pathogenic to yam tubers. The result showed that the test plants significantly (P < 0.05) inhibit growth of P. expansum in vitro. P. nigrum was the most effective extract among the extracts with growth inhibition of 60.38%, 71.32% and 76.29% at 30 g/L, 60 g/L and 90 g/L concentrations respectively; followed by Z. officinale with mean percentage growth inhibition of 57.37%, 63.85% and 72.06% at 30 g/L, 60 g/Land 90 g/L respectively. The least inhibited plant extract wasGwa VI C. papaya with mean percentage growth inhibition of 43.52%, 47.91% and 63.24% at 30 g/L, 60 g/Land 90 g/L respectively. There was 100% inhibition using mancozeb in spite of the concentration and duration of incubation. It is therefore concluded that all the plant extracts at different concentrations posses’ antifungal compounds capable of inhibiting mycelial growth of fungal pathogens and can thus be used to control fungal rots of yam since they are eco-friendly, less expensive, easily available and simple to prepare.

Keywords: Antifungal; Rottening; Plant Extracts; Penicillium expansum; Yam Tubers

Copyright: © 2018 Gwa VI., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.