Abstract :
The effects of several water and ethanol extractions from plants were studied in a series of experiments against fungal pathogens of Piper nigrum. The present results indicated that A total of 10 fungal species were isolated from pepper plant, The identified species of fungi belonged to the genera Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Curvularia, Fusanium, Nigrospora, Pestalotiopsis, Trichoderma. Also, the results revealed that ethanol extractions were more efficient than water extractions in inhibiting spore germination of several fungi. The extracts responsible for the greatest inhibition of germination of spores of fungi isolated from pepper were the galangal extracts in both water and ethanol solvents. These extract completely inhibited germination of all of the fungi tested, with the exception of 25.4% germination by Cladosponium in the water extract. The second most effective spore germination inhibitor was Argemone mexicana extract in water and ethanol solvents. However, these extracts were more effective on putative pathogenic fungi (Colletrichum gloeosporioides, Pestalotiopsis sp, and Colletotrichum orbiculare) rather than on putative saprophytic fungi (Cladosporium sp and Cuvularia sp), Complete inhibition of germination of C. gloeosporioides and C. orbiculare was noted only in the ethanol extract of Argemone mexicana that maintained low spore germination in the other fungi. Finally, the data suggest that several plant extracts may be a useful source of fungicidal preparations for agriculture use.
