Biodiversity and In Vitro Inhibition Study of Fungal Endophytes of Chlorophytum borivilianum Against Selected Phytopathogens

Abstract

In a quest to find remedy against chemical fungicides, a tropical medicinal plant Chlorophytum borivilianum Sant and Fern., was selected for exploring diversity of endophytic fungal community and their biocontrol potential towards phytopathogens Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Rhizoctonia solani. From 209 leaf tissues of C. borivilianum brought from Delhi and Hyderabad, 51 endophytic fungal isolates were attained. Sequence analysis of PCR amplified rDNA ITS region grouped these endophytic fungal isolates into 12 genera. The most frequent species was Fusarium proliferatum (17.6%). Shannon diversity index ( $${\text{H}}^{{\prime }}$$ ) was found to be higher in Delhi (1.850) than Hyderabad (0.693) in 2010. Previously unknown as endophytes, plant pathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia bataticola and Setosphaeria rostrata have been reported from C. borivilianum. Bipolaris maydis, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Fusarium solani, Macrophomina phaseolina and R. bataticola were recovered from Delhi during first collection as deduced by principal component analysis. About 9.8% of endophytic fungal isolates exhibited anti-plant pathogenic fungi. F. proliferatum recovered from Delhi in 2011 displayed highly effective antifungal activity against all phytopathogens with IC50 value ranging from 0.527 to 2.119 mg/ml.