Antifungal effect of Polar and non polar extracts of &lt;i&gt;Aframomum Sceptrum&lt;/i&gt; on Two Isolates of Oil Palm

O B Okogbenin,C E Airede,A O Emoghene,E A Okogbenin

doi:10.4314/jasem.v18i2.4

Abstract

In different parts of the world, attention is being paid to exploitation of higher plants as biodegradable fungicides in the control of most plant pathogenic fungi. Different spices of the Zingiberaceae family have been tested for their antifungal properties, but there exists little or no information on the antifungal potential of a particular member of that family; Aframomum sceptrum on fungal pathogens of some economic important palms in Nigeria. In this study, the phytochemical composition of the seed extracts of this spice was analyzed by standard methods while the antifungal activities of polar and non polar extracts of the spice was tested on two major isolates affecting the Oil palm, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp elaeidis and Hypocrea lixii (IMI 501885) Cold extraction using Acetone, Ethanol, Hexane, Methanol, and Diethylether solvents were used in the seed extract preparation. The broad spectrum fungicide, Mancozeb (80% wettable powder) was used as the positive control while the negative control was Dimethyl sulphoxide. The Dimethyl sulphoxide was also used to reconstitute the solvent extracts by dissolving the extracts and fungicides in appropriate amount of 15 % (v/v) to obtain a concentration of 0.0624g/ml. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of the following phytochemicals in different quantities; Alkaloids, Terpenoids, Anthraquinones, Flavonoids Tanins, Saponins. Results obtained showed that all the extracts had a significantly higher antifungal effect (p< 0.05) than the broad spectrum fungicide, Mancozeb at 2000ppm. Non polar hexane seed extract had the highest percentage inhibition of 60.26% on Hypocrea lixii (IMI 501885 while the Polar ethanolic extracts with a percentage inhibition of 52.73 % on Fusarium f.sp elaeidis. Amongst all the extracts used in this study, the seed extracts that gave a low percentage inhibition of 42.45% was the non –polar acetone seed extract on Fusarium oxysporum fsp. elaeidis and methanol extract on H .lixii with the least percentage inhibition of 42.31%. The implications of these findings are discussed.Keywords: Oil palm, Antifungal, Phytochemical, DMSO, Pathogens

Highlights

The Oil palm (Elaeis guinnensis) of the family Arecaceae is a major economic palm of the world, with their oils as their major economic products (Nair, 2003)
Sample collection: Infected plant parts showing disease symptoms were identified from different parts of the plant, samples were taken from the mesocarp of rottening palm fruits, while other samples were collected from the roots, the foliar parts and soil area from some infected Oil palms showing symptoms of vascular wilt disease
Different fungi were isolated from the diseases leaf lesions of oil palm leaves, roots, soil area as well from the mesocarp of oil palm fruit showing symptoms of deterioration

Summary

Introduction

The Oil palm (Elaeis guinnensis) of the family Arecaceae is a major economic palm of the world, with their oils as their major economic products (Nair, 2003). They are perennials, monocots and are grown majorly in tropical regions of the world with heights up to 1000 meters above sea level (Nair et al, 2003). The palm is classified into three separate groups based on the shell thickness of its fruit: Dura (thick shell), Tenera (relatively thin shell) and Pisifera (absence of shell).

Methods

Results

Conclusion