TITLE:
Situation of Biofungicides Reconnaissance, a Case of Anthracnose Disease of Cowpea
AUTHORS:
Vitus Ikechukwu Obi, Juan Jose Barriuso-Vargas
KEYWORDS:
Anthracnose; Biofungicides; Biopesticides; Colletotrichum destructivum; Cowpea.
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.9,
April
4,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Plant extracts have long been used in commercial agriculture as
anti-microbial tools in food safety applications. These offer growers and
agrobiologists many unique benefits which include their eco-friendliness. This
work reviews the situation of Biofungicides reconnaissance in reference to
fungal disease of cowpea. Twenty different pathogens were associated with
various fungal diseases of cowpea and, only the species of Colletotrichum was found to have the virulence and propensity of
afflicting a 100% infection on a single susceptible cowpea crop. Plant families
under the affliction of Colletotrichum were analyzed. The different forms of botanicals so far availed for use as
potential biofungicidal were identified. Eighteen plant families were found to
represent the entire plants and plant materials agrobiologically screened
within a range of thirteen years and found to habour large spectra of species
containing substances of biofungicidal potentials. Current position in the use
of Botanicals to combat agricultural pests and disease is 7% of the total
cowpea disease management options.