Antisporulant Activity of Watery Extracts of Plants against Sclerospora graminicola Causing Downy Mildew Disease of Pearl Millet

Watery extracts of forty plant species commonly growing in across India have been screened for antisporulant activity against Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroet., the causative agent of pearl millet downy mildew. The collection represented 38 genera of 30 families. The extracts of thirteen species did not show any effect, whereas the activity of extracts of Allium sativum, Clematis gouriana, Evolvulus alsinoides, Mimusops elengi, Parthenium hysterophorus, Piper nigrum and Tagetes erecta were commensurable to that of marketed botanical fungicides and Mikal 70 wp. The crude extracts of 12 species (Agave americana, Aloe vera, Artemisia parviflora, Citrus limon, Citrus sinensis, Eucalyptus globosus, Euphorbia hirta, Leucas aspera, Murraya koenigi, Ocimum sanctum, Santalum album and Zingiber offinale) completely inhibited the zoosprorangium formation while in the case of remaining 8 plants the crude extracts reduced only partially the sporulation. The antisporulant activity of commercialised Azadirachta preparation (Nutri-Neem) was more pronounced than that of Reynutria based one (Milsana) and Sabadilla (veratrin), however, these botanical preparations held off synthetic fungicides and the most active watery extracts.