Abstract

COMPRATIVE EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF CUSCUTA REFLEXA (MORNING GLORY) CONVOLVULACEAE

Dhanendra Kumar Rai* and Anju Pal

ABSTRACT

Integrated disease management is a non-separable part of all the ecofriendly stable agricultural programs. Plant extracts have played significant role in the inhibition of pathogens and in the improvement of crop production. Cuscuta reflexa is a parasitic plant. Agriculturalists consider Cuscuta is only a destructive weed and attempt to eradicate it. The main purpose of this study was to assess its significance in developing plant based formulations for fungal disease management. Antifungal potential of C. reflexa extract was evaluated against two different pathogenic fungi namely, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigates Different concentrations of C. reflexa were prepared. Concentrations of C. reflexa were evaluated against fungal isolate by Mycelial dry weight method used to determine the MIC value of cuscuta reflexa. The fungi toxicity of extract in terms of inhibition zone diameter was calculated. Results indicated that fungal growth inhibition was directly proportional to the concentration of C. reflexa extract. Cuscuta extract exhibited significant antifungal activity against all test fungal isolates. However, extract was highly effective Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigates. It was also found that concentration was significantly effective in reducing the Ketocanazoles growth of fungal isolates after 6 days of incubation. Further investigations however are required to analyze nature of antifungal compounds in C. reflexa and their stability.

Keywords: Cuscuta reflexa, parasitic plants, antifungal extract, pathogenic fungi, parasitic weeds,MIC.