Efficacy of some plant extracts on Botrytis cinerea, the causal of gray mould rot of strawberry fruits

Abstract

For controlling B. cinerea using plant extracts in vitro , all tested plant extracts concentrations were effective in inhibiting fungal growth in all experimental trials in petri dishes. Galls and Cinnamon extracts were more effective in inhibiting B. cinerea growth than the other plant extracts. in vivo experiments, all plant extracts with different concentrations which applied as dipping treatment decreased disease severity % (DS %) on wounded and unwounded strawberry fruits which inoculated with B. cinerea when compared with control treatment. the tested concentrations of Galls, Clove and cinnamon extracts were generally more effective than other extracts in controlling strawberry fruit rot infection. There were no significant differences between the four strawberry cultivars in disease index on the same level of each plant extract concentration. In general, application with Galls and Clove extracts on strawberry fruits either by spraying or dipping was effective in decreasing DS % when compared with control of wounded or un-wounded fruits. Controlling B. cinerea using Trichoderma spp. in vitro, T. harzianum (isolate 1), T. hamatum (isolate 1) and T. hamatum (isolate 2) were the most effective bio-agents in reducing the fungal growth. With regard to controlling strawberry fruit rot infection using Trichoderma spp. culture filtrates and fungicides in vivo, spraying the wounded and un-wounded strawberry fruits in or with three sterilized culture filtrates of three Trichoderma isolates pre-inoculation with B. cinerea decreased the strawberry fruit rot infection on the four-tested strawberry cultivars.