Document Type : Pest Management
Authors
Abstract
In order to evaluate the antifungal activities of bryophytes, 23 taxa (including 21 mosses and two leafy liverworts) were collected, washed, dry-powdered and then extracted in different solvents including water, methanol, ethanol, acetone and petroleum ether. These extracts were mixed with Czapek-Dox (CzA) medium at the ratio of 1:10, and seven different pathogenic fungal species, namely, Alternaria alternata, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, Macrophomina phaseolina, Rhizoctonia solani, Verticillium dahliae and Pythium sp. were then grown on these mixtures. Controls were kept free of the plant extracts. Among the collected and studied bryophytes, the broadest spectrum of antifungal activity were shown by the ethanolic extracts of six moss species, namely, Philonotis marchica, Grimmia pulvinata, Plagiomnium rugicum, Haplocladium sp., Bryum pallens and Drepanocladus aduncus followed by two liverworts called Pellia epiphylla andDumortiera hirsuta. It was also concluded that, ethanol was the most efficient among other experimental solvents. The statistical analysis using MSTATC showed significant variances between the effects of above-mentioned bryophyte extracts on the mycelial growth of the pathogenic fungi under investigation
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