In vitro and In vivo Antifungal Activity of Selected Fungal Species against the Fusarium Wilt of Solanum lycopersicum.

Fusarium wilt of tomato is a devastating fungal disease with several infectious strategies leading to the complete death of plant. None of the strategies in controlling the wilt have shown fruitful results. Dual culture assay was employed is this study to identify the fungal species with their potent antifungal activity against the Fusarium wilt of tomato. Six distinct fungal species including Penicillium sp., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Trichoderma harzianum, Alternaria solani and Pythium aphanidermatum showed growth inhibition (%) against the pathogen. Penicillium sp. showed maximum growth inhibition (63.85 ± 3.26 %) and its extract showed 9.20 ± 0.14 mm zone of inhibition at 1000 mg·L-1 against the Fusarium wilt. Based on its higher in vitro antifungal activity, in vivo screen house experiments were conducted. Plants given the treatment as Penicillium + Fusarium showed slight yellowing of the leaves after 60th days of cultivation. Present results may help in exploiting the Penicillium sp. extract for isolation and structural characterization of its antifungal compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]