Effectiveness of ethanolic extract of Lippia palmeri Wats for the management of Fusarium spp. in chickpea sedes

Chickpea is a crop of world importance due to its nutritional value; however, seed and root diseases caused by Fusarium spp affect the harvest and for its control, synthetic fungicides are applied; nevertheless, natural products based on plant extracts may be an option for the sustainable management of this crop diseases. The objective of this research was to determine the in vitro and in vivo efficiency of the Lippia palmeri extract for the control of Fusarium oxysporum and F. solani in chickpea seeds. To PDA media, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm from ethanolic extract of L. palmeri plus one agar disc of each pathogen, and the inhibition of mycelial growth was quantified. Chickpea seeds were submerged in each concentration of L. palmeri for 5 and 10 min, later, each seed was inoculated with F. oxysporum and F. solani and the disease incidence and germinated seeds were determined. The three concentrations of L. palmeri inhibited both phytopathogens in vitro. In the seeds, L. palmeri ethanolic extract decreased the incidence of F. solani and kept germination above 80%. For F.oxysporum only the highest dose of the ethanolic extract and the longest exposure time decreased the incidence by 20 % and germination was less than 25 %.The ethanolic extract of L. palmeri can be an option to decrease diseases caused by phytopathogenic funguses of the soil in chickpea seeds.