Evaluation of Botanical Extracts against Pyricularia oryzae, A Causal Agent of Blast of Paddy

Rice is one of staple food of India and is only second most consumed cereal crop around the world. Blast of paddy is one of the economically important diseases caused by the phytopathogen Pyricularia oryzae. The present investigation carried out to evaluate the potentiality of extract of locally available botanicals namely, Catharanthus roseus, Duranta repens, Solanum nigrum, Crotalaria trichotoma, Oxalis latifolia, Leucas aspera and Parthenium hysterophorus against Pyricularia oryzae in-vitro. The experiment was carried out using 5% aqueous extracts of botanicals by poisoned food technique. Out of the seven tested aqueous botanical extracts D. repens has shown highly significant results with 100% growth inhibition of pathogen which is on par with fungicide mancozeb, followed by C. roseus (31.36%), S. nigrum (30.76%), C. trichotoma (25.44%), O. latifolia (24.14%) and least inhibition was observed in L. aspera (15.38%) and P. hysterophorus (10.05%).