Phytochemial Screening of Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anderson and Crinium jagus (Thomps) Dandy Extracts and their Potential for Controlling rot fungi of Stored Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) (L.) (Schott)

Phytochemical screening of the crude extracts of Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anderson and Crinium jagus (Thomps) Dandy was carried out to determine the bioactive components of the two plants. Results revealed the presence of important compounds such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, phenols and phytate. Only trace amounts of flavonoids was found in A. montanus while it was entirely absent in C. jagus. The effect of crude ethanolic extracts of A. montanus and C. jagus on the mycelial growth of four cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) storage fungi was investigated. The rot fungi were Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc., Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat, Fusarium solani, and Rhizopus stolonofer. Results showed that all the extracts at different concentrations of 100mg/ml, 75mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml inhibited the mycelial growth of the test fungi. Growth inhibition of the rot fungi increased with increasing concentrations of each extract. Extracts of A. montanus leaves had more inhibitory effect on all the four test fungi than C. jagus bulb extract. The significance of these results is discussed.