Antifungal activity of different plant extracts against Drechslera bicolor causing leaf blight of bell pepper

Aqueous extracts of 48 plants belonging to six different major groups of the plant kingdom, two commercially available botanicals and different fungicides were screened for antifungal activity against Drechslera bicolor causing leaf blight of bell pepper. The test fungi were isolated from bell pepper leaves collected from Udaipur district, Rajasthan, India. Among several botanicals, maximum inhibition of fungal growth was obtained by marigold, lat jeera, lemon grass, mehandi, onion and neem, respectively. Neem oil was superior over Zatropin against the fungus. Vitavax was also found as the best fungicide followed by Quintal and Saaf against the test fungus. The results revealed that these plants could be exploited for ecofriendly management of the diseases caused by the test fungal pathogen and seed biodeterioration during storage.