Bioefficacy of plant extracts on inhibition of pythium myriotylum

Crude alcohol extract, 50% hydro-alcohol and aqueous extracts of 10 plants species belonging to 9 families were screened in vitro for antifungal activity against economically important phytopathogenic fungus, Pythium myriotylum which was isolated from infected ginger. Bioassays of the extracts were conducted by “Poisoned food technique” on agar plate culture with triplicates. Nine of ten (90%) plant species showed inhibitory activity against mycelial growth of the tested fungi. Among the 10 plants taken, Jacaranda mimosifolia showed best activity with 22.0% inhibition by 50% hydro-alcohol extract and 19.66% inhibition by its aqueous extract followed by Moringa olifera and Lawsonia inermis which exhibited 18.3% and 16.0% growth inhibition respectively. 13.0% and 12.6% inhibition was observed with Terminallia arjuna and Polyalthia longifolia respectively. All other selected plants exhibited inhibitory activity ranging from 5.3% to 10.0% against Pythium myriotylum .On the basis of these results, we conclude that the plants selected for this study can be regarded as a rich source of metabolites with significant antifungal activity, since 10mg/ml concentrations of crude extracts of these plants are showing significant activity. Partially purified fractions with high concentrations and active molecules may have enhanced activity against the test pathogen, as well as different species of Pythium and other fungi also.