IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT BRASSICA CROPS AGAINST THE PATHOGEN CAUSING FUNGAL WILT DISEASE IN TOMATO

Tomato is one of the world’s most popular vegetable crops and is widely cultivated throughout the world. Its production is, however, challenged by various constraints, among which the wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (FOL) is one of the serious diseases observed regularly in tomatogrowing areas. The disease causes substantial yield losses of tomato both in the field and greenhousegrown tomatoes worldwide. Considering the importance of the disease, the present investigation was undertaken in a Completely Randomized Block Design (CRD) to screen different brassicaceous plants against the pathogen causing wilt disease of tomato in vitro. Eighteen Brassica crops were selected for preliminary screening at 25 % concentration to evaluate their antifungal efficacy in vitro against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (FOL). Amongst all, three promising brassica crops selected based on preliminary screening were further evaluated at different concentrations (10, 20, 30, and 40%) to find out the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the pathogen. All the brassica crops were effective in inhibiting the mycelial growth of FOL. However, the efficacy of the aqueous extracts of brassica crops increases with the increase in concentration. Among all the brassica crops, Rapeseed variety TS-38 was found to be the most effective in inhibiting the maximum mean (49.85%) radial mycelial growth of FOL followed by Rapeseed varieties M-27 and TS-67 with 41.68% and 39.53% inhibition of radial mycelial growth, respectively.