Effectiveness of olive fruit polyphenol extract combined with aqueous extracts of solid wastes of pomegranate or/ and orange juice against important plant pathogens - Part 2 (in vivo studies)

Abstract

Olive fruit extracts, combined with pomegranate and orange waste extracts, isolated using microwave assisted extraction technique, were used as a potential alternative crop protection method against Verticillium dahliae, Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Pyrenochaeta lycopersici on tomato plants. For the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity, various mixtures of the extracts were applied on 15 days old tomato plants, variety “Bella Dona”, infected by the above-mentioned pathogens. After 40 days of treatments, plant growth parameters such as plant fresh and dry weight, root weight, plant height, number of blossoms and number of formed fruits were calculated in order to assess the extract effectiveness. The results indicated that the four pathogens dramatically reduced tomato growth. In contrast, most of the evaluated extracts provided satisfactory control of the pathogens resulting in tomato growth similar to that of the uninfected control plants. Conclusively, the use of these polyphenolic extracts could protect tomato plants in case of fungal infection. Copyright © 2021 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License