Inhibitory influence of spices on wax apple anthracnose postharvest pathogen Glomerella cingulata

Abstract

The inhibitory effects of eight commercial spices extracts namely cloves, cinnamon, aniseed, coriander, white cumin, black pepper, chilli and turmeric against Glomerella cingulata were tested at different concentrations ranging from 1,000 to 100,000ppm in an in vitro study. The assay was conducted on potato dextrose agar at room temperature of 28 ° C. Both cloves and cinnamon exhibited fungistatic activity against G.cingulata at 3,000 and 40,000ppm after five days of incubation respectively. No inhibitory effects against G. cingulata were observed from aniseed, coriander, white cumin, black pepper, chilli and turmeric even at concentration as high as 100,000ppm. Clove and propiconazole had the same fungi static concentration at 3,000ppm. When tested on wax apples in the in vivo study, 50,000ppm of clove extracts showed antifungal ability against the growth of G.cingulata curatively at room temperature. In contrast, clove extracts did not show antifungal activity at ° l 2 C. Clove extracts gave greater flesh firmness and sweetness but did not affect the colour of wax apples. The result of this study suggests that clove extracts is a good alternative to be applied as a natural-based fungicide besides the use of chemical fungicide.