Authors : V.C. Okereke , R.C. Wokocha and M.I. Godwin-Egein
Abstract: The effect of Trichoderma harzianum, Azadirachta indica seed extract, pawpaw root extract, Hyptis suaveolens leaf extract and the fungicide captan on sclerotium wilt of tomato caused by Sclerotium rolfsii was investigated. S. rolfsii and T. harzianum on maize-meal were used to inoculate the soil around seedlings and aqueous extracts of the plant materials and an aqueous suspension of captan were used to drench the soil in pots. All treatments were observed to have profound effect on the disease, by reducing it, with T. harzianum having the highest disease reduction value of (80.3%) followed by A. indica (68.6%), captan (68.2%), H. suaveolens (60.8%) and C. papaya (33.6%). The effect due to T. harzianum was significantly different (p = 0.05) from others. The same trend was observed for disease severity. Pawpaw root extract had the least effect on all the disease parameters investigated, but its effect significantly differed (p = 0.05) from the control. Plant growth recorded significant difference (p = 0.05) among the treatments, with the pots treated with the plant extracts having the highest plant heights. T. harzianum , A. indica seed extract and H. suaveolens leaf extracts gave optimum effect and compared favorably with captan and could be considered to replace it as control agent(s).
V.C. Okereke , R.C. Wokocha and M.I. Godwin-Egein , 2007. Evaluation of Trichoderma harzianum, Some Botanicals and a Fungicide on Sclerotium Wilt of Potted Tomato . Agricultural Journal, 2: 555-558.