Plant extract and extraction. Commercial plant material (Table 1) was purchased for basic screening from a company which trades in medicinal plants and spices.
Dry plant material was ground using an electric grinder and was subsequently extracted using water. The highest tested dose (50 g/l) was prepared by macerating 50g of the plant material in 1 litre of warm water at 25 ± 1°C. The extraction was done at ambient temperature (21 ± 2°C) for 10 hours.
After maceration, the application solution was separated from unsaturated material using a cloth.
The application solution was applied immediately. For better interpretation, doses reported herein are given as the weight of plant material macerated in 1 litre of water.