Research Article Effect of Cow Urine on the Growth Characteristics of Fusarium lateritium, an Important Coffee Fungus in Zimbabwe Timothy Gotora, 1 Lawrence Masaka, 2 and Marvelous Sungirai 2 1 Department of Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, Midlands State University, Private Bag 9055, Gweru, Zimbabwe 2 Department of Livestock and Wildlife Management, Midlands State University, Private Bag 9055, Gweru, Zimbabwe Correspondence should be addressed to Lawrence Masaka; masakal@msu.ac.zw Received 20 February 2014; Revised 2 July 2014; Accepted 7 July 2014; Published 23 July 2014 Academic Editor: David Clay Copyright © 2014 Timothy Gotora et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. An in vitro assay was carried out to establish if cow urine at diferent concentrations (500 L/mL, 300 L/mL, 200 L/mL, and 100 L/mL) can be used to control the growth of F. lateritium, the fungal agent causing Fusarium bark disease in cofee. Te growth characteristics selected were conidial germination, germ tube length, mycelial growth rate, and sporulation. Copper oxychloride 50% W.P. was the standard, distilled water was the negative control, and undiluted cow urine was the positive control. Te undiluted cow urine was most efective in inhibiting fungal growth with the rest of the cow urine concentrations showing dose dependent efcacy compared to the negative control (P < 0.01). Copper oxychloride had the highest efcacy of all treatments with the exception of the inhibition of mycelial growth where undiluted cow urine had higher efcacy and sporulation where efcacy was comparable to undiluted cow urine. Tere is potential for the use of cow urine as a means of controlling Fusarium bark disease with other advantages being availability, low cost, and limited environmental damage. 1. Introduction F. lateritium Nees ex Fr. var. longum Wollew is an important ubiquitous soil borne wound phytopathogen causing Fusar- ium bark disease (FBD) of Cofea arabica [1]. In Zimbabwe, the disease is endemic to the Eastern cofee growing regions. In these areas, it has been reported to cause serious economic losses. Control of FBD in the region is restricted to the use of copper oxychloride based fungicides together with good agricultural practices and good hygiene practices. However, for most small scale farmers, consistent use of commercial fungicides is unsustainable as it signifcantly reduces the proftability of cofee farming due to the prohibitive pricing of the fungicide [2, 3]. Another constraint to the use of copper oxychloride based fungicides is its potential environmental implications as a pollutant [4] as well as the likelihood of F. lateritium developing resistance to the fungicide [2]. In this regard, it is worthwhile for small scale cofee farmers to invest in alternative measures that are less costly and readily available and pose a limited threat to the environment. One such alternative is cow urine. Studies, mostly concen- trated in the Indian subcontinent where cow products and by- products are held in high esteem, have shown that cow urine has bioactive properties that enable it to be a fairly potent antibacterial, antioxidant [5, 6], antihelminthic, anticancer [7], and antifungal agent [8, 9]. Te antifungal activity of cow urine has been confrmed against Aspergillus spp. [10] and Candida spp. [11]. When used in combination with some botanical extracts, cow urine efectively inhibited growth of Rhizoctonia spp., Fusarium spp., Sclerotinia spp., Phytoph- thora spp., and Colletotrichum spp. in vitro [12]. Cow urine contains phenolic acids (gallic, cafeic, ferulic, o-coumaric, cinnamic, and salicylic acids) which have antifungal charac- teristics [13]. However, it remains to be established whether the antifungal activity is a result of one or a combination of these phenolic acids. Te purpose of this study was to determine the in vitro efcacy of cow urine in inhibiting growth of F. lateritium and, therefore, ascertain its potential use as a low cost control measure against FBD. Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Agronomy Volume 2014, Article ID 986068, 4 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/986068