EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL POTENTIAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF A MEDICINAL HERB, Centaurium erythraea

Abstract

Medicinal herbs are promising source of biologically active phytochemicals, many of which possess antifungal activities against phytopathogens. This research presents in vitro antifungal activity and analysis of a medicinally important herb Centaurium erythraea Rafn extracts against a highly problematic pathogen of tomato namely Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL). In-vitro results prominently disclosed that the extracts showed good percentage growth inhibition (PGI) against FOL. Methanolic extract of C. erythraea at 200 mg mL-1 showed growth inhibition 93.3% while the synthetic fungicide benomyl showed highest growth inhibition of 90.2% at the same concentration. Phytochemical analysis indicated that methanolic extracts of this plant possess phytochemicals of all the major classes such as alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, saponins etc. This study concludes that the extracts of C. erythraea are the best alternatives to fungicides to control Fusarium wilt pathogen of tomato.