Antifungal activities of few medicinal plants for prevention and management of Fusarium infection on various crops and vegetables

Abstract

The present investigation assessed the antifungal activity using the agar diffusion method to prevent Fusarium infections in the different agricultural cultivated crop plants. Hemidesmus indicus (L.) (Whole plant), Capparis zeylanica (L.) (Leaves), Lantana camara (L.) (Leaves), Cleome viscosa (L.) (Leaves), and Soymida febrifuga (Roxb.) (Leaves) are the plants that were selected for this experiments. Using a Soxhlet appratus, the plant samples were extracted using a variety of solvents, including toluene, isopropanol, acetone, ethanol, dimethyl formamide, and water. A number of Fusarium species have been evaluated against various solvent extracts. All of the chosen plant extracts greatly reduced the Fusarium fungus.  It was shown that several Fusarium species were considerably inhibited by plant fractions including water, ethanol, acetone, dimethyl formamide, and isopropanol. The water extract of Cleome viscosa (L.) exhibited an extremely high mycelial growth inhibitory potential against the different Fusarium species, with MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) values of (120 µg/ml) for Fusarium oxysporum, (132 µg/ml) for Fusarium proliferatum, (142 µg/ml) for Fusarium solani, and (146 µg/ml) for Fusarium moniliformae. Significant antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum (192 µg/ml), Fusarium graminearum (133 µg/ml), Fusarium solani (122 µg/ml), and Fusarium moniliformae (188 µg/ml) was shown by the aqueous extract of Hemidesmus indicus (L.). When applied to Fusarium oxysporum, the aqueous extract of Capparis zeylanica (L.) demonstrated significant antifungal activity (166 µg/ml). The findings have been compared with the results obtained by the standard reference drug Voriconazole.