Fungitoxicity spectra of crude extracts of three Ghanaian medicinal Plants

Abstract

Steam distillates from three Ghanaian medicinal plants, Ocimum gratissimum (L.), Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal) Rich and Cymbopogon citratus (D.C.) Stapf, were tested for fungitoxicity against 20 fungal species. A fungitoxicity spectrum (FS) was calculated for each extract based on per cent inhibition of fungal growth. High FS values of 4.8 and 3.5 (maximum assignable value = 5) were, respectively, associated with extracts of O. gratissimum and C. citratus. A low value of 1.4 was recorded for X. aethiopica. Whereas extract of O. gratissimum exhibited complete fungicidal activity towards 14 of the 20 fungi, that of C. citratus was fungicidal to only three. The extract of X. aethiopica was fungistatic but not fungicidal.


(Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science, 1996, 29(2): 71-74)