In vitro Studies of plant extracts on the growth of wilt causing fungi Fusarium oxysporum

In vitro screening of twenty five plant extracts belonging to various families were tested against wilt causing fungi Fusarium oxyspoum by Poisoined Food Technique. Extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides was the most effective of all the botanicals and showed excellent antimicrobial activity by complete inhibition of mycelial growth of the test fungi. Whereas, other plant extracts showed moderate to minimum antifungal activity. Therefore current study was further carried out to evaluate the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and phytotoxicity of Chenopodium ambrosioides. For MIC starting from 5x103 µl/l dose retrogressively lower doses were used and it was observed that 0.2x103 µl/l dose was the minimum dose for complete inhibition of test fungi. The phytotoxic effect of Chenopodium ambrosioides was also observed for seed germination and seedling growth of cicer arietinum which indicated that the extract has no phytotoxic effect. The extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides seems promising as it has a great potential for providing new drug of great benefit.