Weeds as potential biopesticides in Taro leaf blight disease management
Abstract
193 words
Weeds play an important role as biopesticides for the management of several field pests. An
experiment was conducted in the Life Science Laboratories of the University of Buea in
2012 to assess the biopesticidal potential of aqueous extracts of Mitracarpus villosus (Sw.)
DC. and Ageratum conyzoides L. in the management of leaf blight disease of Taro
(Colocasia esculenta L. Schott). The weeds were screened at full strength concentration
(100%). The positive control was a commercial fungicide (Mancozan, active ingredient
mancozeb in the subclass dithiocarbamate pesticides) while the negative control was set up
using blank agar plates containing only PDA (no extract or fungicide). Results revealed that
at 7 and 10 days after exposure, crude extracts of both weed species and the fungicide
significantly inhibited mycelia growth of the fungus compared to the untreated control
(Pd”0.05). However, Mitracarpus villosus was 64% more effective at inhibiting the fungal
growth than Ageratum conyzoides, similar to the positive control which recorded complete
inhibition. Mitracarpus villosus showed a promising anti-microbial activity and an indicator
of a potential new chemical entity for the management of taro blight disease and should
therefore be exploited for possible lead compound discovery pipeline.
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