Page 119 - rise 2017

Antifungal Potential of Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) Leaves Water Extract against
Pathogenic Fungi (Fusarium sp.)

2, b
1, a
Nur Eastiharah Binti Mohmad Hairin , Rusli bin Abd Rahman

1 Politeknik Sandakan, Sabah

a eastiharah@pss.edu.my, rosli@pss.edu.my
b

Abstract
Fusarium sp. is a vascular plant pathogen that can caused devastating impact towards crops. In order
to inhibit Fusarium sp., chemical fungicides are widely used to control the pathogen. However, in
long term, the pathogen develop resistance to these chemicals and disturb the ecosystem. The present
research was focused to determine the potential of Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) leaves water
extract against Fusarium sp. Leaves extract of different concentrations (10%, 15%, 20% and 25%)
were mixed with PDA media. The PDA plates containing the different concentrations of leaves
extract were inoculated aseptically with the pathogen by transferring five mm diameter agar disc from
the fresh cultures. The growth of fungus were collected in 7 days. The result showed higher
concentration of Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) leaves water extract gave the positive result to
inhibit Fusarium sp. These information will be highly useful for disease management in order to
achieve sustainable agriculture.
Keywords: Antifungal, Leaf extract, Fusarium sp. Terminalia catappa, Plant pathogenic

Introduction
The chemical fungicides are widely used in agriculture sector in order to inhibit the several of
fungicide that attack the crops. However, the use of chemical fungicide can caused harm to the
environment. Agriculture sustainable concept was introduced to reduce the number of chemical usage
in order to preserve the ecosystem and avoid resistant to chemical use. Pathogenic fungi such as
Fusarium sp. was widely found attacked the crops.
Fusarium sp. is commonly pathogenic fungus found in soil. The plants were infected by Fusarium sp.
can caused Fusarium wilt, a deadly vascular wilting syndrome in plants [9]. In order to inhibit
Fusarium sp., most of the farmers using chemical fungicide that can cause devastating to ecosystem.
Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) leaves extract were believed to be antimicrobial and
antifungal based on previous research. The extract contained flavonoid, tannin, alkaloid, saponin,
quinon and phenolic acid that able to inhibit the microorganisms [8]. The previous research stated that
tannins contain in Terminalia catappa leaves extract and flavonoid can be used as alternative material
to avoid and cure the diseases that carry by pathogen naturally [1,3].
Thus, this study was performed to determine the potential of Terminalia catappa leaves water
extract against pathogenic fungi, Fusarium sp.

Material and Methods

Preparation of extract
The red fallen of Terminalia catappa leaves were collected from Polytechnic Sandakan Sabah. The
leaves were cleaned and washed under running tap water to remove dirt after which they were air
dried for two days. One kilogram of dried Terminalia catappa leaves were minced and soaked in 20
litres of distilled water in 3 days [2]. The extraction were filtered using muslin cloth and centrifuged
to separate the solid and liquid phase. To yield 10% concentration, 100 ml of extraction was diluted in
1 litres of distilled water. The extracts were prepared at concentration 15% = 150 ml, 20% = 200 ml
and 25% = 250 ml in the same volume of distilled water.

Sources of microorganism
Pure culture of Fusarium sp. were obtained from infected Dioscorea alata tuber roots. These fungal
cultures were isolated to Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and monitored the growth of inoculum. The