Study of leaves of Alstonia scholaris linn. (satvin), Family: apocynaceae, as a potential source of natural fungicide

Abstract

Infections of the plants caused due to fungal pathogens are of worldwide occurrence and discussed for a long period. World has witnessed various epidemics caused due to various fungal diseases, which have not only caused loss of quantity and quality of the plants but also were responsible for death of the people. The fungi can invade the plants at various stages right from seed to a fully grown plant including flowers and fruits making them inappropriate and hazardous for human consumption. Hence, fungal pathogens have to be treated with suitable fungicides to control their growth. The fungicides can be categorized as biological or chemical. In case of biological fungicides; extracts of Neem, Turmeric, Tulasi etc. are considered to be very effective fungicides while mancozeb, carbendezim, sulphur etc. are very effective chemical fungicides available in the market in various forms. There are problems associated with chemical as well as conventional biological fungicides. Hence, in this study, we have tried to work out with leaf extract of Alstonia scholaris Linn. as a natural fungicide to find out an alternative to the conventional fungicides and study its effect in various forms of extracts to control growth of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus stolonifer; which are very common fungal pathogens.