PJB-2018-882
ANTIFUNGAL POTENTIAL OF PHYTOEXTRACTS AGAINST PENICILLIUM DIGITATUM CAUSING GREEN MOLD OF CITRUS
Awais Ahmed Khan
Abstract
The main limitation on the industry of citrus is management of storage diseases, mostly of fungal diseases. Many pathogens attack on citrus fruit during storage, among which Penicillium digitatum is most devastating which causes green mold of citrus. The fungicides used to control this disease leave the residues and have health hazardous effects on human and environment. So it is need of time to adopt ecofriendly approaches to manage the disease. For this purpose, present study was planned to evaluate the antifungal potential of plant extracts and the biochemical alterations in fruit. All the plant extracts inhibited the growth of pathogen. Maximum growth inhibition was obtained by application of Azadirachta indica (55.14%) followed by Datura stramonium (52.35%), Calotropis gigantean (43.78%) and Thymus vulgaris (39.68%) at 30% concentration. All the plant extracts increased the production of defense related enzymes. Application of plant extracts increased the level of superoxide dismustase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and total phenolic contents (TPC).
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