2023, Vol. 11, Issue 2, Part A

The increasing incidence of drug-resistant pathogens and toxicity of existing antifungal compounds has drawn awareness towards the antifungal activity of natural products. Hence, in the current study we aimed to determine the antifungal activity of ethanolic extracts of Coriandrum sativum, Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Fusarium oxysporum. Extraction of active principles of plant from the dried powdered samples of leaf and stem of Coriandrum sativum, Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum was done with 50% ethanol. The antifungal screening was done on Sorghum bicolor and Zea mays seeds and three plant pathogens associated with these seeds were studied viz. Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum. In agar well diffusion assay itraconazole was used as positive control and ethanol (50%) was used as negative control. Aspergillus Niger was markedly affected by leaf and stem extracts of Coriandrum sativum, Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum and Fusarium oxysporum was affected by ethanolic extracts of Coriandrum sativum but it was not affected by ethanolic extracts of Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum. Aspergillus fumigatus was not affected by ethanolic extracts of Coriandrum sativum, Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum. The results obtained from this study would help in establishing the use of ethanolic extracts of Coriandrum sativum, Mentha piperita and Trigonella foenum to control plant diseases associated with Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum and also as a safe substitute to chemical fungicides.