In-Vitro evaluation of phytoextracts against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides caused anthracnose disease of custard apple (Annona squamosa L.)
Abstract
The Custard apple or sugar apple (Annona squmosa L.)is one of India’soldest dry land fruit crop belonging to family Annonaceae and genus Annona. The extract often plants part was evaluated against leaf spots by poisoned food technique. Among them, extract of lantana leaves (Lantana camera L.) (81.91%) was proved excellent in inhibiting mycelial growth of the pathogen. Next best in order of merit was bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd) leaves extract (58.60%), neem (Azadirachta indica Juss). leaves extracts (58.01%), subabul (Leucaena leucocephala Lam) leaves extract (57.68%), garlic (Allium sativum L.) clove extracts (55.20), ashoka (Polyanthia longifolia Sonn.) leaves extract (54.99%) and Simarouba (Simarouba glauca DC) leaves extract (54.78%).
Keywords
Download Options
Introduction
Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.)is commercially important fruit crop of tropical and sub-tropical regions. This fruit is sometimes also considered as "poor man'srich food" in the arid zones of India and require dry climate with mild winter. The genus name, Annona is from the Latin word ‘anon’, meaning ‘yearly produce’, referring to the production of fruits of the various species in this genus. Custard apple belong to family Annonaceae having 2n=14 and 16 chromosomes and is one of the finest fruits gifted to India by tropical America. Custard apple is commonly cultivated in Mexico, Philippines, New guinea, Malaysia, India and South America contries in the world. In India, it is found wildly and cultivated, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil nadu. During 2021-22 (Anon, 2022), custard apple was cultivated over 47 million hectares with an annual production of 402 MT in India. Among the various diseases, fungal diseases play an important role to severe loss of custard apple production. Major fungal diseases are leaf and fruit spot (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria spp.), cylindrocladium leaf spot (Cylindrocladium colhounii and Cylindrocladium scoparium), botryodiplodia rot (Botryodiplodia theobromae), black canker (Phomopsis anonacearum) and gliocladium rot (Gliocladium roseum) (Shamsi and Hosen, 2016).
Conclusion
The present study demonstrated that phyto-extracts possess considerable antifungal potential against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, the causal agent of leaf and fruit spot in custard apple. Among the ten plant extracts evaluated, Lantana camara leaves extract consistently exhibited the highest level of mycelial growth inhibition across all concentrations, recording up to 84.43% inhibition at 30% concentration. Bougainvillea and neem leaf extracts were found next in efficacy, while extracts such as ardusi showed comparatively lower activity.
The findings clearly indicate that certain botanicals, particularly Lantana camara, can serve as effective, eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic fungicides for the management of anthracnose in custard apple. Since the antifungal activity of these extracts increased with concentration, their role in integrated disease management appears promising. However, further investigations under field conditions, along with standardization of formulations and application methods, are required before their large-scale use in commercial custard apple cultivation.
