Effects of Botanical Extracts on Fungal Load of Sesame (SesamumindicumL.) Seeds

This study assessed the mycoflora load on pesticidal botanical materials and on infected sesame (Sesamum indicum L. ) seeds treated with antifungal botanicals in the laboratory using Agar dilution method. Six botanical materials were screened and baobab (Adansonia digitata), hot pepper (Capsicum annum) and ordeal tree (Erythrophleum suaveolens) leaf extracts had no fungal load. The antifungal activity of the extract of these botanicals (10 % and 100 % conc. ) was evaluated against the isolated fungi from infected sesame seeds. The pathogenic fungi isolated from the sesame seeds were Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Mucor spp. , Fusarium spp. , Alternaria spp. and Penicillium spp. Baobab and ordeal leaf extracts (10 % and 100 % conc. ) had maximal antifungal activity (pless than 0.05) on all the six assessed seed-borne fungi. Hot pepper extracts (10 % and 100 %) inhibited only the mycelial growth of A. flavus and Alternaria spp. This study confirmed the variation in the fungal load of some Nigerian plant materials and indicated the effectiveness of baobab (Adansonia digitata L. ) leaves, pepper (Capsicum annum) fruit and ordeal tree (Erythrophleum suaveolens) leaf extracts as antifungal agents on seed-borne fungi of sesame. The effect of these extracts on germinability of the seeds and seedling vigour deserve further investigation.