Public demands to
reduce pesticide use, stimulated by greater awareness
of environment and health issues, as well as development
of resistance of some of the pathogens to fungicides,
limits the post-harvest application of chemicals
to agricultural products (Karabulut and Baykal 2003).
Only a few essential oils have been evaluated for their
anti Fusarium activity (Browers and Locke 2000; Rai
et al. 1999) and up to our knowledge no reports are
there for evaluation of essential oils against A. porri. In
the present study, 75 essential oils were evaluated for
their antifungal effects on FOC and A. porri.
Materials and methods
Test fungus
The test fungi FOC (VP003) and A. porri (VP 010)
were isolated from chick pea and garlic plants,
respectively, and identified in the Gujarat Agricultural
University, Junagadh, Gujarat. The cultures of these
fungi were maintained on potato dextrose agar medium
at 4C.
Culture suspension
A disc (1 cm) from a one-week-old culture of both the
fungi was cut from periphery and suspended in 10 ml
of sterile distilled water. It was shaken vigorously and
centrifuged to remove the agar particles. The supernatant
was used as a culture suspension for spreading.
Essential oils
Seventy-five essential oils used in this experiment were
obtained from Vimal Research Society for Agrobiotech
and Cosmic Powers (VIRSACO), Rajkot,
Gujarat, India.