Antifungal Activity of Some Plant Extracts against (Colletotrichum Musae) the Cause of Postharvest Banana Anthracnose

The present study was conducted to determine the efficacy of extracts of some plant species against Colletotrichum musae. Methanolic extracts of 21 plant species were screened for their inhibitory effect against C. musae using paper disc method and spore germination assay. Among them, extract of Prosopis juliflora exhibited superior antifungal activity (30.7 mm), followed by Acacia albida (19 mm) as compared to nill in the control. On the other hand, carbendazim, which was used as a standard chemical check, demonstrated by far the highest inhibition zone of 51.7 mm diameter. Extracts from A. albida, Dovalis abyssinica and P. juliflora reduced conidial germination to 0.2, 0.5 and 0.3%, respectively, which didn’t vary statistically from 1.2% in Carbendazim. Six plant species, viz., A. albida, Azadirachta indica, Argemone mexicana, D. abyssinica, P. juliflora and Vernonia amygdalina, that showed high to moderate antifungal activity in the preliminary screening, were further tested for their thermal stability at 60°C and for the efficacy of their aqueous extracts against C. musae. Extracts of the tested plant species were found to be heat stable and aqueous extracts of A. albida showed the highest antifungal activity (18 mm), followed by P. juliflora (12.3 mm). Further studies need to be undertaken to isolate the active compounds from those extracts with fungicidal potential.