Abstract

CARRILLO, Yazmid Adriana; GOMEZ, María Isabel; COTES, José Miguel  and  NUSTEZ, Carlos Eduardo. Effect of some essential oils on the growth of Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary under laboratory conditions. Agron. colomb. [online]. 2010, vol.28, n.2, pp.245-253. ISSN 0120-9965.

One of the most limiting factors of potato cultivation is Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of "Late blight". The chemical control of this disease not only responds for 7 to 10% of total crop costs, but also takes a considerable toll on the environment due to resulting pollution. Thus, the search and application of alternative practices for the control of this pathogen is of central importance for reducing the use of fungicides and, consequently, the cultivation costs. Given that several in vitro studies have shown certain essential oils to have fungicidal and fungistatic properties on different pathogens, the present research study was aimed at assessing the effect of eight essential oils extracted from equal number of aromatic species of the family Lamiaceae, on the growth of P. infestans under laboratory conditions. Different essential oil application methodologies were tested, the most appropriate ones being those that produced a volatile effect. Evaluated in terms of the performance of the volatile phase of their extracted oils against two isolates of P. infestans (A13 and A15), the studied species were Origanum vulgare, Mentha piperita, Salvia officinalis, Ocimum basilicum, Rosmarinus officinalis, Origanum majorana, Thymus vulgaris, and Pogostemon cablin. T. vulgaris and M. piperita oils were the ones found to inhibit the growth of P. infestans cultures, by 92.1 and 89.9%, respectively. These results allow considering them as promissory for field evaluation.

Keywords : potato; late blight; aromatic species; Lamiaceae.

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