Achyranthes Aspera L.: As a Source of Bio- Fungicide Binit Baraik, Paras Jain* and H.P
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American Journal of Advanced Drug Delivery www.ajadd.co.uk Original Article Achyranthes aspera L.: As a Source of Bio- fungicide Binit Baraik, Paras Jain* and H.P. Sharma Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Botany, Ranchi University, Ranchi, India Date of Receipt- 15/09/2014 ABSTRACT Date of Revision- 01/10/2014 Date of Acceptance- 02/10/2014 Achyranthes aspera is a herb in amaranthaceae family, traditionally used in treatment of several diseases (inflammation, diabetes, hypertension, wounds, pain, pneumonia, diarrhea, dysentery, asthma, cough, dropsy, ulcers, piles, rheumatism, scabies and other skin diseases. and fever etc). The present study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial activities of the methanolic extract and to investigate phytochemical profile of aqueous extract of vegetative parts of Achyranthes aspera. The methanol extracts were screened for antifungal activity against four fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria solani, Athelia rolfsii and Rhizoctonia solani by food poisoning method. The extracts of fresh Achyranthes aspera showed Address for a significant and remarkable activity against all these four fungal Correspondence species when compared to standard. The observed IC50 values for these funguses are 43.75µg/ml for Fusarium oxysporum, 27.5µg/ml Laboratory of Plant for Alternaria spp., 19.37µg/ml for Sclerotium rolfsii. And Physiology and 18.75µg/ml for Rhizoctonia solani. The phytochemical screening of Biotechnology, the aqueous extract indicates that the fresh plant contain tannin, Department of phlobatannin, terpenoid, flavonoid, cardiac glycoside, phenol and Botany, Ranchi alkaloid. Phytochemical screening indicate the absence of saponin, University, Ranchi, steroid, free anthraquinone, and carbohydrate. India. E-mail: Keywords: Medicinal plants, Achyranthes aspera, Antimicrobial [email protected] activity, Phytochemical screening, Plant pathogen. INTRODUCTION Generally plant resources constitute like alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, an important natural wealth of a country. phlobatannin, terpenoid, flavonoid, phenol, They play a significant role in providing volatiles oils and many more compounds primary health care services to rural people which serve as important therapeutic agents. in addition to large number of economic According to the World Health products. It is in fact secondary metabolites, Organization, more than 80 % of the world’s American Journal of Advanced Drug Delivery www.ajadd.co.uk Baraik et al_____________________________________________________ ISSN 2321-547X population relies on traditional herbal Traditionally, the plant is used in medicine for their primary health care1. pneumonia, diarrhea, dysentery, asthma, These medicines are relatively safer and cough, dropsy, ulcers, piles, rheumatism, cheaper than synthetic or modern medicine. scabies, snake bite and other skin diseases4. Herbal remedies used in folk A fresh piece of root is used as tooth brush. medicine provide an interesting and still It is one of the 21 leaves used in the Ganesh largely unexplored source for the creation Patra Pooja done regularly on Ganesh and development of potentially new drugs Chaturthi day. for therapy which might help overcome the growing problem of resistance and also the Pathogenic fungi are the main infectious toxicity of the currently available agents in plants, causing alterations during commercial antibiotics/pesticides and developmental stages including post-harvest discovery of new bioactive compounds. Fusarium oxysporum is a large genus Therefore, it is of great interest to carry out a of filamentous fungi widely distributed in screening of these plants in order to validate soil and in associated with plants. It causes their use in folk medicine and to reveal the Fusarium wilt disease in various plant. The active principle by isolation and host include Tomato, tobacco, cucurbits, characterization of their constituents. In this sweet potatoes and banana. Fusarium background Achyranthes aspera used as generally produces symptoms such as herbal drugs has been identified and studied wilting, chlorosis, necrosis, premature leaf for phytochemical screening and drop, browning of the vascular system, antimicrobial studies2. stunting and damping off. The most Achyranthes aspera L. important of these are vascular wilt5. (Amaranthaceae) is an important medicinal Alternaria solani is fungal pathogen herb found as a weed throughout India. that produces a disease in tomato and Though almost all of its parts are used in potato plants called early blight. Distingui- traditional systems of medicines, seeds, shing symptoms of A. solani include leaf roots and shoots are the most important parts spot and defoliation, which are most which are used for their medicinal pronounced in the lower canopy6. 3 properties . Sclerotium rolfsii, an omnivorous, Achyranthes aspera is a species of soilborne fungal pathogen, causes disease on plant in the Amaranthaceae family. The a wide range of agricultural and horticultural plant is a perennial stiff erect herb, 0.2-2.0 crops. Susceptible agricultural hosts include m high, is growing up to 1000 m height. sweet potato, pumpkin, corn, wheat and Stems are square, leaves elliptic ovate or peanut. Mature plants are attacked just broadly rhombate, 5-22 cm long, 2-5 cm below the soil surface and are completely broad, and adpressed pubescent. The girdled. The mycelium often grows over the inflorescences are 8-30 cm long, with many diseased tissue and surrounding soil forming single, white or red flowers, 3-7 mm wide. a white mat of mycelial threads with the Flowering time is in summer. Wide numbers typical tan-to-brown, mustard-seed-sized of phytochemical constituents have been sclerotia. The tops wilt and die rapidly, often isolated from the plant which possesses the entire root system is destroyed. Slightly activities like antiperiodic, diuretic, sunken, yellow spots develop on invaded purgative, laxative, antiasthmatic, fruit, which rapidly decay, collapse, and hepatoprotective, anti-allergic and various become covered by a white fungal mass other important medicinal properties. with numerous sclerotia7. AJADD[2][6][2014]686-696 Baraik et al_____________________________________________________ ISSN 2321-547X Rhizoctonia solani is a soil-borne whatman filter paper no.1 and the filtrate was plant pathogenic fungus causes rot disease collected in a beaker. Then the filtrate was with a wide host range and worldwide kept under room temperature to evaporate the distribution. Rhizoctonia solani is best solvent (methanol) until a gummy substance known to cause various plant diseases such was obtained. 128 mg of A. aspera extract as collar rot, root rot, damping off and wire was obtained from 5 g of dried leaf powder. stem. Rhizoctonia solani attacks its host (s) The prepared extract was then stored for when they are in their juvenile stages of further use. development such as seeds and seedlings, which are typically found in the soil. The Antimicrobial assay most common symptom of Rhizoctonia is Methanolic plant extracts of A. aspera "damping off", or the failure of infected thus obtained were immediately evaluated for seeds to germinate. Rhizoctonia solani can antifungal activities using poisoned food also cause hypocotyl and stem cankers on technique. mature plants of tomatoes, potatoes and cabbage. Roots will turn brown and die after Food poisoned technique a period of time8. The antifungal activity of plant extracts was evaluated against food- Name of the fungus and disease caused by associated fungi by using poisoned them with their host food technique. In poisoned food technique, See table 4. all the food-associated fungi were inoculated on Potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates and MATERIALS AND METHODS incubated for 250 C for 3 to 7 days, to obtain young, actively growing colonies of fungus. Collection of the plant Different concentration (12.5, 25, The plant Achyranthes aspera were 37.5, 50, 62.5 μg/ml) of the plant extract were collected from the Lalpur locality of the city mixed with 16 ml of cooled (450 C) molten Ranchi (Jharkhand). The taxonomic identity PDA medium and allowed to solidify at room of this plant was confirmed at Department of temperature. One more plate containing only Botany, Ranchi University. media without any plant extract was taken as positive control. A mycelium from periphery Drying of 3 to 7 day old cultures, was aseptically For extraction, the freshly collected inoculated with the help of inoculation loop plant were thoroughly washed with tap water onto the agar plates containing the plant followed by sterile distilled water. Then the extract. The plates were then sealed. The collected plant samples were sad dried inside inoculated plates were then incubated at 250 the hot air oven at 50°C, and then samples C. After 48 hours the colony diameter were were powdered using mechanical grinder. regularly measured and recorded at an interval of 24 hours. Preparation of methanolic plant extract The dried plant powder was taken on CALCULATION a conical flask and was soaked with methanol (the volume of methanol was 10 times than The percentage zone of inhibition was the amount of plant powder. The flask was calculated using the formula- covered with aluminum foil to avoid % Zone of inhibition=GC-GT/GC×100. evaporation and then kept for 48 hours. After Where, GC = Growth of mycelia 48 hours the solution was filtered by using colony in control set, AJADD[2][6][2014]686-696 Baraik et al_____________________________________________________