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ABSTRACT
The worldwide concern around the use of antibiotics to treat bacterial and fungal infections can lead to the rise and spread of organisms resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics, opening ways to use plants as natural sources for novel antimicrobial agents with a similar activity. This study was aimed at examining the antifungal activity of Thaumatococcus daniellii against Lasiodiplodia spp, Ceratocystis paradoxa, Trichoderma spp and Fusarium oxysporum. Antimicrobial activity against fungal isolates was carried out using the food poisoning method. 1ml of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of dried T. daniellii leaves were added to 20 ml of prepared Potato dextrose agar and labelled accordingly. PDA plate without T. daniellii extract served as control. The agar medium containing the extract was poured under sterile condition, then stirred carefully and allowed to gel. After solidifying, the test organisms were inoculated on the medium by picking a culture plug of the isolate and placing at the centre of the petri dish. This was then incubated at room temperature and the fungal mycelia growth was measured after 72 hours using graduated millimetre (mm).
Thaumatococcus daniellii extracts were found to have high inhibitory activities against Ceratocystis paradoxa, Lasiodiplodia spp and Fusarium oxysporum. However, no marked inhibitory effect was observed on Trichoderma spp in both ethanolic and aqueous extract. This antifungal ability is promising in that T. danielli extract may be used in the combat of plant diseases caused by these fungal agents, and may be screened for antimicrobial activity against several plant and animal pathogens. Further researches should seek to identify the relevant active ingredients to the advantage of developing commercial chemotherapies, or identifying plants that possess the same or similar phytochemical constituents.
