Abstract
Black scurf is one of the oldest and common diseases of potato stems and stolons below the soil surface caused by Rhizoctonia solani. The present study was carried out to investigate the antifungal potential of Azadirachta indica L. against this soil-borne fungal pathogen. Different concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5%) of aqueous, methanol, n-hexane and chloroform extracts of leaves, stems and fruits of A. indica were prepared and were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal activity. Data showed that all the extracts showed variable antifungal activity. In general, leaf and fruit extracts exhibited the highest inhibitory effect against growth of the fungal pathogen followed by stem-bark. Among the various extracts, leaf methanol extract, fruit and stem-bark chloroform extract showed the best antifungal activity resulting in 0-83% and 0-79% reduction in fungal biomass over corresponding control treatments, respectively. The implications of using the neem extracts in controlling R. solani are discussed. (C) 2014 Friends Science Publishers