In vitro assessment of the fungicidal properties of some spices for the control of the Tomato Wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici

Abstract

An assessment of the fungicidal properties of Garcinia kola, Monodora myristica, Ocimum gratissemum, Syzygium aromaticum and Aframomum septrum showed they had significant effect on mycelia diameter of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. The in vitro evaluation of concentration effects of all spices showed day-7 mycelial diameters of 7.43, 5.25 and 2.96cm for control, 1g/100ml and 10g/100ml concentrations respectively. The most effective spice in this study was S. aromaticum followed by O. gratissemum both resulting in 100% and 77.6% mycelia inhibition in the 10g/100ml concentration. Multiple comparison of means from all treatment showed that S. aromaticum had a significance value of -2.85556 and -5.00 against O. gratissemum and control respectively. Evaluation of the toxicity of the spices to tomato seeds resulted in O. gratissemum having percentage germinations of 97 from the 1g/100 ml which was not significant to that from the control (96%).