A Study of Antifungal Properties of Carica Papaya, Persea Americana and Psidium Guajava Leaf Extract to Suppress the Growth of Ganoderma Boninense That Causes Basal Stem Rot Disease in Oil Palm Trees

Loo, Jia Ying (2022) A Study of Antifungal Properties of Carica Papaya, Persea Americana and Psidium Guajava Leaf Extract to Suppress the Growth of Ganoderma Boninense That Causes Basal Stem Rot Disease in Oil Palm Trees. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

The production of palm oil is threatened by a white-rot fungus, Ganoderma boninense which causes basal stem rot disease in the oil palm trees. Although many methods such as biological control agents have been investigated to suppress the growth of Ganoderma boninense, none of them can control the disease effectively. Therefore, this project aims to explore the ability of Carica papaya, Persea americana and Psidium guajava leaf extracts in suppressing the growth of Ganoderma boninense. Methanol and acetone were used for the extractions and methanol was found to give a higher yield than acetone. The in vitro antifungal activity of the methanol and acetone extracts was tested against Ganoderma boninense using three concentrations with triplicate: 25 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL. The mycelia growth of Ganoderma boninense was measured from day 0 to day 14 and the results obtained were analysed using one-way ANOVA followed by the Post Hoc test. All methanol and acetone types of leaf extracts showed greater antifungal activity at 100 mg/mL, except acetone papaya leaf extract which result was unreliable due to contamination. In addition, acetone avocado leaf extract and methanol papaya leaf extract exhibited a significant difference in mycelia growth at 25 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL, respectively. At 50 mg/mL, no significant difference was seen in the mean diameter of mycelia growth among the leaf extracts. Moreover, the finding suggests that the methanol and acetone avocado leaf extract exhibited greater antifungal activity in the growth of Ganoderma boninense compared to the other two types of leaf extracts