ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF FOUR PLANTS AGAINST ALTERNARIA ALTERNATA

Natural fungicides are gaining increased attention because of their environmentally friendly properties, being easily accessible and relatively cost effective, in the perspective of sustainable methods of plant disease control The aim of the present work was the investigation of the in vitro antifungal activity of the ethanolic and aqueous extracts obtained from four locally available traditional medicinal plants from Romania, collected from different regions of Southern part of the country. The four plants taken into consideration were absinth (Artemisia absinthium), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), jimson weed (Datura stramonium) and cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), and their antifungal properties were tested against the plant pathogenic fungus Alternaria alternata. All extracts obtained from the selected plants presented antifungal potential, demonstrated by the inhibition of the mycelial growth. Generally, the ethanolic extracts showed a higher antifungal activity than the aqueous extracts, for all the tested variants. The results of this study confirm that the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of the selected plants can be used as an alternative in control of the tested phytopathogenic fungus.