Comparative study on bio-fungicidal effects of moringa and green tea against postharvest pathogens of avocado fruit

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of moringa leaf extracts (MLE) and green tea extracts (GTE) as novel antifungal treatments against the major pathogen that causes postharvest decay in avocado; Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. To evaluate the effect of moringa and green tea extracts on the growth of the isolates, the extracts were amended with potato dextrose agar (PDA). The amended PDA was inoculated with the isolate of the strain and the radial growth of the isolate was then recorded. The diameter of the colonies was used to calculate the growth inhibition percentage of the isolates. The result showed that PDA media combined with MLE and GTE treatments significantly reduced mycelium growth compared to the control. This study has demonstrated the bio-fungicidal effect of both MLE and GTE in suppressing the mycelium growth of C. gloeosporioides. The plant extracts could have potential as bio-fungicides for the avocado fruit industry.