ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS EXTRACTS AGAINST THE PATHOGEN CAUSING PHOMOPSIS BLIGHT OF BRINJAL (SOLANUM MELONGENA L.)

Brinjal or eggplant (Solanummelongena L.) is an important vegetable crop grown in Assam. Phomopsis blight or fruit rot disease of brinjal is one of the most devastating diseases of all brinjal growing field caused by Phomopsis vexans. In this context the present investigation has been undertaken with a view to studying in vitro efficacy of some antifungal plant extracts viz. bulb extracts of Allium sativum, leaf, roots and seeds extract of Ricinus communis and bark extracts of Terminalia arjuna against the mycelial growth of the pathogen. Among the tested plants, the aqueous extracts of 15% concentration of Allium sativum (100%), seed extracts of Ricinus communis (77.1%) followed by root extracts (55.5%), leaf extract (53.8%) and bark extracts (27.5%) inhibited the growth of the pathogen.