Description

Potato is high yielding important crop worldwide, Alternaria solani is the causal agent early blight (EB) disease of potato that leads to major damages to potato crop. It is a major foliar disease of potato and causes 20-50% yield loses. Effective management of this disease requires implementation of an integrated disease management approach. The plant world comprises a rich source of biologically active natural products to control plant diseases. Plant extracts play an important role in the inhibition of seed borne diseases and may used as an alternative to currently used fungicides. Neem has been extensively used as antihyperglycaemic, antimalarial, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral and anticarcinogenic. The present study was designed to evaluate the antifungal properties of Neem (Azadarachta indica) against destructive phtopathogenic fungus Alternaria solani.