Efficacy of Garlic and Other Plant Extracts In the Control of Septorial Leaf Spot of Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum)

Abstract

The attempt by man to improve crop yield in order to produce enough food for consumption by the increasing population is a decision in the right direction which has led to search of biopesticides of plant origin. The research work studied the effect of different rates of garlic juice in the control of septorial leaf spot of tomato caused by the fungus Cercospora sp. and also other plant extracts were compared with garlic so as to ascertain the effectiveness of garlic in the control of these leaf spots. The 0.5L of garlic (Allium sativum) spray produced the least number of infected leaves in all the different rates of applications. The utazi (Pergularia spp) spray was significantly different (P<0.05) from the bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) and garlic (Allium sativum) spray and produced significantly lower number of infected leaflets (0-1.5) than that of the bitter leaf (1.5-3.0) and garlic (2.7-3.7) spray throughout the 6 weeks.