Antifungal Activity of Tagetes patula Extracts

Abstract

In the present paper the methanol extracts obtained from 10 cultivars of Tagetes patula were assayed on two phytopathogenic fungi: Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium moniliforme. B. cinerea showed a high dose-dependent inhibition, with a marked difference between light and dark treatment. F. moniliforme seems to be a more resistant test that does not appear to be affected by the different treatment conditions (light-dark) even at the highest dose. However, it can be asserted that Tagetes patula is a possible source of antifungal substances and that thiophene activity is, in general, strongly increased by UV-A irradiation. During the experiment the method of chromatographic plates was used to evaluate plant extracts bioactivity. The obtained data indicate that it is a rapid method than can be used as an alternative to Petri dish tests.