Singh and Srivastava, IJPSR, 2012; Vol. 3(12): 4818-4821 ISSN: 0975-8232 Available online on www.ijpsr.com 4818 IJPSR (2012), Vol. 3, Issue 12 (Research Article) Received on 13 August, 2012; received in revised form 17 September, 2012; accepted 24 November, 2012 BIOFUNGICIDAL OR BIOCONTROL ACTIVITY OF LANTANA CAMARA AGAINST PHYTOPATHOGENIC ALTERNARIA ALTERNATA Padma Singh and *Deepika Srivastava DepartŵeŶt of MiĐroďiology, KaŶya Gurukul Girl’s Caŵpus, Gurukul KaŶgri UŶiǀersity, jǁalapur, Har idwar- 249407, Uttarakhand, India ABSTRACT The leaf extracts of Lantana camara in different organic solvents (methanol, acetone, ethanol and aqueous) were assessed in-vitro for fungitoxic activity against phytopathogenic Alternaria alternata isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The assessment of fungitoxicity was carried out by food poison technique 1 using four different extracts at 200 mg/ml and their activity was recorded as radial growth and percentage inhibition. Among the four extracts, ethanol and acetone extracts showed complete inhibition of growth of fungus; while methanol extract showed 50% inhibition and aqueous extract did not produce any inhibition of fungus. Findings from present study confirmed that ethanol and acetone extract of Lantana camara can be used as biofungicide to control this phytopathogenic fungus. INTRODUCTION: Fungi rank second only to insects as a cause of plant diseases which results in heavy loss of plant products. It can cause nearly 20% reductions in yield of major food and cash crops 2 . Alternaria genus is cosmopolitan in occurrence. The members of this species like A. alternata, A. solani, A. porri, A. dauci, A. helianthi, A. carthami, and A. macrospore cause different disease in their respective host 3 . Alternaira alternata is usually reported as a weak pathogen, but it can sometimes attack the plant vigorously and can cause economic losses 4 . Alternaria solani causing early blight of potato (Solanum tuberosum) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is the most destructive 5 . In order to prevent the plant diseases and to protect the crop plants and other plants against pathogens, chemical control methods are in practice. No doubt the use of chemicals has been found very effective in controlling plant fungal diseases but some major problems threaten to limit the continued use of fungicides. Firstly, some fungi have developed resistance to chemicals. This necessitates higher dosage the development of new chemicals to replace those to which fungi are resistant. Secondly some fungicides are not readily biodegradable and tend to persist for years in the environment, which also pollute soil and water, and this leads to third problem, the detrimental effect of chemicals on organisms other then target fungi 6 . So, In order to avoid the hazardous effects of chemicals natural products of some plants have been used to control plant diseases 7, 8, 9 which are able to produce antifungal substances 10 . Biological screening of plant extracts is carried out throughout the world for the determination of their antifungal activity. Many higher plants and their constituents have been successful in plant disease control and proved to be safe and non- phytotoxic 11 . Keywords: Alternaria spp.; fungitoxicity; radial growth; percentage inhibition, food poison technique Correspondence to Author: Deepika Srivastava Research Scholar, Department of MiĐroďiology, KaŶya Gurukul Girl’s Campus, Gurukul Kangri University, jwalapur, Haridwar-249407, Uttarakhand, India E-mail: deepika_biotech2002@yahoo.com