In vitro Evaluation of Botanicals against Red Rot of Sugarcane (Colletotrichum falcatum)

Red rot of sugarcane caused by Colletotrichum falcatum is one of the major economically important diseases of sugarcane causing significant reduction in yield quantity and quality. Synthetic fungicides are used to control the fungi usually but are harmful for human health and environment. Keeping in view the potential of some bioactive indigenous plant, a study was carried out to study on the efficacy against this fungi. The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of five botanical extracts, Azadirachta indica; Neem, Datura stramonium; Datura, Nicotinia tabaccum; Tobacco, Justicia adhatoda; Asuro, Allium sativum; Garlic at two concentration 25% and 50% against Colletotrichum falcatum in vitro using poisoned food technique in completely randomized design. All the tested botanical extracts significantly inhibited the mycelial growth of this pathogen as compared to control. After 18 days, among the plant extracts 50% Azadirachta indica showed maximum inhibitory effect (72.79%) along with its lower concentration 25% (67.93%) followed by 50% Datura stramonium (69.58%) and its lower concentration 25% (65.72%). Similarly lowest inhibitory effect was shown by 25% Tobacco (7.630%) followed by 25% Garlic (28.86%). The study indicated that botanicals such as Neem, Daturo, Asuro showed better performance even at its lower concentration thus, such effective botanicals could be used at appropriate concentration to control red rot of sugarcane. Result of this study indicates that use of botanicals for control of Colletotrichum falcatum is safe and is a good alternative to synthetic chemical fungicides.

Author(s): Biraj Poudel*, Archana Bhatt and Sandip Panth

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