Assessment of potency of different plant extracts on growth of fungal rot pathogens of Ghana and Cameroon pepper (Capsicum species) seeds in storage

Abstract

Potency of Cucuma longa, Moringa oleifera and Occimun grattisimum were tested in-vitro to control post harvest seed rot of two types of  pepper seeds (Cameroon and Ghana) from four different markets; Orie Ugba, Urbani, Ndoro and the University general markets in  Umuahia, Abia State. The study was carried out in the Department of Plant Health Management, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture  Umudike, Abia state, Nigeria. Rotted pepper seeds were collected from four (4) different markets in Umuahia, Abia State. The  experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three treatments replicated three times while the analysis was  carried out using SAS package (Institute Inc, 2001). Fungal pathogens isolated from the two types of pepper seeds (Cameroon and  Ghana) 7 days after inoculation in a PDA media at 28+2ºC were; Aspergillus niger, Pennicilium sp, Fusarium sp, Rhizopus stolonifer.  Aspergillus niger (80%) had the highest percentage occurrence when compared with other isolates and the pathogenicity test conducted  also showed that A. niger incited rot more than the other fungal isolates from the four markets studied. The result further revealed that  50, 100 and 200 mls concentrations of Occimum grattisimum were the most effective though the other plant extracts (C. Longa and M.  Oleifera) had comparative effect in reducing the radial mycelial growth of the test organisms at varied levels of concentrations. It is  therefore recommended that aqueous leaf extracts of these plants which are readily available, easy to prepare and affordable could be  used to control post harvest seed rot of the two types of pepper seeds.