Abstract:
The branches and leaves of
Nerium indicum Mill plants were extracted using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate or nbutanol in this study. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts against 5 pathogenic fungi on plants (i.e.,
Gerlachia nivalis,
Gaeumannomyces graminis,
Venturia nashicola,
Colletotrichum capsici, and
Magnaporthe oryzae) were determined based on the fungal growth rates under the treatments. From the data, regression equations were obtained, and
EC50 calculated. It was found that the extracts exhibited varying inhibitory rates, which increased with increasing concentration of the extract. The ethyl acetate extract showed the greatest inhibitory effects on the pathogens. At a concentration of 10 mg·mL
-1, the extract demonstrated an inhibition rate exceeded 65.0% against all 5 fungi, especially
G. nivalis, which reached 85.7% with an
EC50 of 2.04 mg·mL
-1. The petroleum ether extract and the nbutanol extract followed in that order on the inhibition effect. All 3 extracts retarded the growths of
G. nivalis with an
EC50 below 6.28 mg·mL
-1, which was significantly lower than the
EC50 on other fungi tested.