EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL PROPERTY AND PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF UNDEREXPLOITED LEAFY VEGETABLES

The adverse environmental impact of fungicides used in plant disease control is escalating day by day. Generally, plant diseases are controlled by synthetic fungicides, chemical methods, and bio-control agents. Chemical methods lead to deterioration of soil fertility and cause pollution. Being highly stable and resistant to biodegradation, chemical fungicides also enter the food chain and are responsible for many harmful effects on human health and the environment. Hence, eco-friendly alternative methods are of great urgency. One of the prominent approaches in this direction includes utilizing plant extracts with natural antifungal constituents. So, a study was attempted to determine the antifungal and phytochemical activity of underexploited leafy vegetables. Methanol and water extracts of the leaves were tested against two economically important plant pathogens Alternaria solani and Pythium aphanidermatum and the antifungal activity of plant extracts was determined. All the plant species under study showed inhibitory activity against the plant pathogens. However, B. diffusa and C. frutescens exhibited maximized efficiencies. Moreover, the water extracts of B. diffusa and C. frutescens (1%) were tested against Phytophthora fruit rot of Brinjal under open field conditions. Reduced disease severity was observed in C. frutescens water extract. Phytochemical analysis revealed that alkaloids, carbohydrates and flavonoids are the active components present in the water and methanol leaf extracts; among them, saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and terpenoids are major components responsible for antifungal activity. Results of the present study indicate that plant extracts can be effectively used as a botanical fungicide as an alternative management method to tackle plant disease.