Vol 9, No 1, April 2018.

Potentiality of some Brassica plants toward the control of tomato-fusarial-wilt


Abstract: In the present study, biofumigation through the use of two Brassica plants namely, mustard and turnip was adopted to control tomato-fusarial wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici. Brassicaceous plants were applied, in three forms, as green-manure, seed-meal, and also as pre-plant. The results clearly indicated that all forms applied revealed very reasonable effects on the rate of disease suppression by comparison with the effect induced by the chemical fungicide micronized-sulfur which has been used as a positive control. By comparison, brassicaceous plants used as pre-plant tended to be more efficient than being used as seed-meal or green-manure. The rate of disease suppression induced by both plants (as pre-plant) came down in the first season from 56 % to an average of 18 %, then getting better in the second season (down to 4 %), and becoming best (0 %) in the third season. If the values of disease suppression, cost-effect and safety were regarded, the efficacy of disease control by brassicaceous plants would be considered more feasible than micronized-sulfur. Key words: Brassica, mustard, turnip, tomato, wilt, Fusarium, plant disease, biofumigation, biocontrol.