Management of Macrophomina phaseolina by Allelopathic Grasses

Macrophomina phaseolina , is a destructive soil-borne fungal plant pathogen in the tropics and subtropics that causes such diseases as charcoal rot, seedling blight, dry root rot and wilt in more than 500 cultivated and wild plant species.The present study was carried out to investigate the antifungal potential of four allelopathic grasses namely Dichanthium annulatum, Cenchrus pennisetiformis, Imperata cylindrica and Sorghum halepense for the management of M. phaseolina. Methanolic shoot extracts of C. pennisetiformis and I. cylindrica were found highly effective which were further fractionated using different organic solvents viz. n-hexane, chloroform ethyl acetate and n-butanol in order of increasing polarity. Chloroform fractions of both the extracts gave promising antifungal activities. This book is very useful for those who want to explore nature friendly fungicides as an alternative to synthetic agrochemicals.