Abstract

Antifungal activity of the ethanolic crude extracts of twenty-four medicinal plants namely, Boesenbergia pandurata, Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, Alpinia galanga, Zingiber cassumunar, Amonum xanthioides, Kaempferia galanga, Curcuma aromatica, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Kaemferia parviflora, Amonum krervanh, Syzygium aromaticum, Allium sativum, Allium ascolonicum, Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon nardus, Leptochloa chinensis, Eupatorium odoratum, Piper betle, Synedrella nodiflora, Cassia siamea, Sorghum bicolor, Rosmarinus officinalis and Origanum vulgare were tested against Fusarium sp. (the pathogen of dirty panicle disease in rice) by poisoned food technique at 0, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 7,500 and 10,000 ppm. The inhibition of mycelial growth was evaluated. All the used twenty-four crude extracts showed significant antifungal activity against Fusarium sp. The result showed that the S. aromaticum and O. vulgare crude extracts showed 100% inhibition of mycelial growth at all concentrations, whereas, S. nodiflora and S. bicolor crude extracts at 10,000 ppm gave the lowest inhibition of 42 and 32%, respectively.

Key words: Antifungal activity, dirty panicle disease, Fusarium sp., medicinal crude extract, rice.