Indian cuisine is renowned and celebrated throughout the world for its spicy treat to the tongue. The flavor and aroma of the food generated due to the use of spices creates an indelible experience. Among the commonly utilized spices to stimulate the taste buds in Indian food, whole or powdered chilli constitutes an inevitable position. Besides being a vital ingredient of of Indian food, chilli occupy an important position as an economic commodity, a major share in Indian economy. Chilli also has uncountable benefits to human health. Fresh green chilli fruits contain more Vitamin C than found in citrus fruits, while red chilli fruits have more Vitamin A content than as found in carrots. The active component of the spice, Capsaicin possesses the antioxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic and immunosuppressive activities having ability to inhibit bacterial growth and platelet aggregation. Though introduced by the Portuguese in the Seventeenth century, India has been one of the major producers and exporters of this crop. During 2010-2011, India was the leading exporter and producer of chilli in the world, but recently due to a decline in chilli production, it stands at third position in terms of its production. The decline in chilli production has been attributed to the diseases linked with crop like anthracnose or fruit rot causing the major share of crop loss. The disease causes severe damage to both mature fruits in the field as well as during their storage under favorable conditions, which amplifies the loss in yield and overall production of the crop. This review gives an account of the loss in production and yield procured in chili cultivation due to anthracnose disease in Indian sub-continent, with emphasis given to the sustainable management strategies against the conventionally recommended control for the disease. Also, the review highlights the various pathogenic species of Colletotrichum spp, the causal agent of the disease, associated with the host crop in the country. The information in the review will prove of immense importance for the groups targeting the problem, for giving a collective information on various aspects of the epidemiology and management of the disease.

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Chilli Anthracnose: The Epidemiology and Management.

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjm/v43n1/v43n1a35.pdf

Biological control of rice brown spot with native isolates of three Trichoderma species

SUMMARY The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the antifungal activities of plant extracts which can be used to control bean and cowpea anthracnose. Acetone, ethyl acetate and water extracts of Ipomoea batatas, Carica papaya, Allium sativum, Syzygium cordatum, Chlorophytum comosum and Agapanthus caulescens were screened in vitro for their antifungal activities against Colletotrichum lindemuthianum and Colletotrichum dematium of common bean and cowpea using the agar disc infusion and microtitre double-dilution techniques. The same extracts were then tested for antifungal activity in vivo as seed treatments against anthracnose disease. The water extracts of Carica and Syzygium were active against C. lindemuthianum and had minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1·56 mg/ml. Syzygium, Allium and Chlorophytum water extracts were active against C. dematium and MICs were 3·13, 6·25 and 12·5 mg/ml, respectively. The MICs of Allium, Syzygium and Agapanthus acetone extracts were 0·78, 3·13 and 6·25 mg/ml, respectively, against C. lindemuthianum and 0·78, 6·25 and 3·13 mg/ml against C. dematium. Agapanthus water extracts and all the acetone extracts tested in vivo effectively reduced the incidence and severity of bean anthracnose disease in the greenhouse. Agapanthus acetone, Allium water, and both acetone and water extracts of Carica and Syzygium performed well in vivo in reducing cowpea anthracnose disease and compared well with reductions due to the application of the synthetic fungicide fludioxonil+mefenoxam (the commercial product Celest ® XL) applied at 25 gai/l and also with levels in the non-inoculated control. The Agapanthus, Carica, Syzygium and Allium extracts were active on both Colletotrichum spp. in vitro and also reduced anthracnose disease of bean and cowpea and are potential seed treatments in anthracnose disease control. The easy seed treatment process and the accessibility of plants used in the present study could lead to high adoption of the use of the plant extracts as seed treatments by resource-poor, smallholder farmers.

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Screening of plant extracts for antifungal activities against Colletotrichum species of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp)

Current Trends in Plant Disease Diagnostics and Management Practices

Guava wilt pathogen was isolated from soil of guava orchards and identified as Fusarium solani on the basis of its morphological and cultural characteristics. The resistance of this pathogen to the wide variety of chemicals has stimulated the search of new alternatives for control measures. Use of plants extract is one of the most promising, effective, safer and ecofriendly method to eradicate the pathogens from soil. The present paper aims at the study on efficacy of four plant extracts viz., Eugenia caryophyllata (Clove), Moringa oleifera (Sehjan), Trachyspermum captivum (Ajwain) and Zingiber officinale (Zinger) against Fusarium solani at 10%, 25% and 50% concentrations. Among all four plant extracts tested, Eugenia caryophyllata was found to be most effective against Fusarium solani on 3rd, 5th and 7th day at 50% concentration and conquered the colony growth by 100% compared to control followed by Trachyspermum captivum and Moringa oleifera, 3rdday (91.70% and 67.42%), 5th day (92.74% and 72.35%) and 7th day (94.35% and 78.04%) respectively. Zingiber officinale has shown least efficiency to suppress the colony growth of Fusarium solani on 3rd day (60.65%), 5th day (63.55%) and 7th day (73.50%) after inoculation at 10%, 25% and 50% concentration over control.

Antifungal activity of some plant extracts against guava wilt pathogen

Shovan L.R., Bhuiyan M. K. A., Begum J. A. and Pervez Z. 2008. In vitro Control of Colletotrichum dematium Causing Anthracnose of Soybean by Fungicides, Plant Extracts and Trichoderma harzianum. Int. J. Sustain. Crop Prod. 3(3):10-17 A study was conducted in the Microbiology Laboratory of Plant Pathology Department, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, during 2005 to 2006 to control Colletotrichum dematium causing anthracnose of soybean with fungicides, plant extracts and Trichoderma harzianum. Five fungicides namely Tilt-250 EC, Vitavax-200, Rovral 50 WP, Dithane M-45 and Cupravit were evaluated at 100, 200 and 400 ppm for their efficacy against the radial colony growth and mycelial dry weight of C. dematium. The complete inhibition was obtained with Tilt-250 EC at all the selected concentrations. The highest concentration of Vitavax-200 inhibits 77.41% and 83.45% radial growth and mycelial dry weight, respectively and significantly superior to Rovral 50 WP at the highest concentration. Dithane M-45 and Cupravit were found to be significantly inferior against the test pathogen. Plant extracts of garlic, ginger, onion and neem at three different concentrations (5%, 10% and 20%) were evaluated against the radial growth and mycelial dry weight of C. dematium. Among the four plant extracts, garlic extract at 20% concentration was appeared to be best in inhibiting the radial growth and mycelial dry weight of the test pathogen followed by onion, ginger and neem extracts and each extracts were significantly different from each other. A total of 20 T. harzianum isolates collected from rhizosphere and rhizoplane of different crops were screened against C. dematium following dual plate culture technique. The screened isolates of Trichoderma showed significantly variable antagonism ranging from 50.93 to 89.44% reduction of the radial growth of C. dematium. Among the promising antagonists, the isolate T3 of T. harzinum showed the highest 89.44 % inhibition of radial growth of C. dematium.

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L. R. Shovan

Papers

In vitro control of colletotrichum dematium causing anthracnose of soybean by fungicides, plant extracts and trichoderma harzianum