Safed musli (Chlorophytum borivilanum) is an important medicinal plant of family Liliaceae. Dry roots are known as safed musli which contain a drug. It is used against diuretic, nutritive, urinary tract infection, general debility, impotency etc. It is considered as wonder drug in Indian systems of medicines due to its aphrodisiac and natural sex tonic properties. It is also used to cure weakness and male sterility. It is a supplementary therapy for blood purification, nervous disorders and some gynecological problems. Such commercially important plant is infected by fungal diseases viz.responsible for decrease in yield; hence survey of fungal diseases was undertaken, which illustrates the different diseases of Safed musli.
Keywords: Safed musli, Chlorophytum borivilanum, roots, fungal diseases. Introduction: Chlorophytum borivilanum (safed musli) is an important medicinal plant growing in forests of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. It is a rhizomatous herb (Singh and Chauhan, 2003). Leaves are sub erect and lanceolate. Flowers are star like. The roots are fleshy in bunches and measures upto 7-12 cm. in length. It is 3-4 months crop.
It is cultivated in June-July. A well developed plant bears an average 2-5 inflorensce. Each inflorensce contains 20-25 flowers. Seeds have a dormancy period of about 10 months and very low germination due to which cultivation is mostly carried out by tubers (Oudhia, 2000). Materials and methods: The infected leaves were collected from fields of Parbhani and Nanded districts in Marathwada region. Disease severity index was calculated by using 5-point scale as given by Mayee and et al. (1971) Isolation and purification: The isolation and purification was carried as per methods given by (Aneja, 1993).
The fungi were isolated by using Potato-Dextrose agar medium. The infected leaves with spots are cut into pieces and inoculated on PDA medium under sterilized condition (Verma, Upadhyay, et al. 2007). These plates were incubated for 2-4 days at 27+30C temperature for growth of fungal pathogens. Identification of isolated fungi: The different fungi were identified on the basis of culture characters fungal reproductive structures i. e. observed under microscope for the morphological characters. Fungal pathogens were identified by using standard literature (Alexopoulous 1996 and Barnett & Lilly 1951).
After identification the slants ( Zapek-Dox-Agar) medium was made and these pathogens were grown on slants and used when required. Pathogenicity: Pathogenicity test was proved by Simple Detached Leaf (SDL) technique. Two sterilized petriplates were taken and filter papers of that size were kept in it. Two glass rods were kept in petriplates. Leaves were inoculated with fungal cultures and kept in Petri dish in such a way that petiole/midrib touches the blotter paper and incubated at room temperature. To maintain moisture for disease development water was added in the plates time to time.
After 2-3 days disease symptoms were initiated and develop in 15 days. Disease Severity Index (DSI): Disease severity Index was calculated by using 5-point scale (Mayee, et al. , 1979). For this 100 leaves were collected from the field. On the basis of infection percentage the leaves were categorized as given below- Grade-Percent Infection 0-Healthy leaves I-1-25% Infection II-26-50% Infection III-51-75% Infection IV-76-100% Infection. | |( of all ratings X 100 | |Disease Severity Index= | | |(DSI) | | | |No. of observations X Maximum grade -1 |
Table 1 Disease Severity Index (DSI) in % |Year |Nanded |Parbhani | | |Aug. |Sept. |Oct. |Nov. |Aug. |Sept. |Oct. |Nov. | |2006 |15. 63 |20. 63 |23. 38 |26. 88 |11. 50 |15. 10 |18. 25 |20. 63 | |2007 |10. 88 |12. 63 |17. 50 |20. 13 |9. 13 |12. 38 |15. 88 |19. 63 | |2008 |12. 63 |14. 88 |19. 25 |22. 63 |12. 00 |14. 38 |18. 75 |21. 25 | Results and Discussions: The different fungal pathogens identified and diseases caused are as follows: 1) Leaf spot caused by Alternaria alternata. (Fr. ) 2) Leaf spot caused by Colletotrichum dematium. (Grove. )
3) Leaf spot caused by Colletotrichum chlorophytumi (Chandra & Tandon). 4) Leaf rust caused by Uromyces clingii (Pat & Harr. ) Disease severity Index (DSI) was found to be different in different fields i. e. Nanded and Parbhani districts. It was found that the disease incidence and intensity was more in the fields of Nanded than Parbhani district.
Acknowledgement: The authors are thankful to Dr. D. P. Vaidya, Principal and Mrs. H. G. Shete, Head Dept. of Microbiology, N. S. B. College, Nanded for providing necessary facilities to carryout present investigation.
Authors affiliation: Mrs. Anita B. Joshi, Dept. of Botany, N. S. B. College, Nanded (M. S. ) India. Reference: 1. Alexopolous C. J. (1996): ‘Introduction to Mycology’, NewYork, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2. Aneja K. R. (1993): ‘Experiments in microbiology and plant pathology, tissue culture and mushroom cultivation’, Wish Prakashan, New Age international Pvt. Ltd. 3. Barnett H. L. & Lilly V. G. (1951): ‘Key to the Identification of Fungi’, McGraw Hill book Co. , New York, P-218. 4. Mayee C. D. & et al. (1971) : ‘A text book of phytometry’. 5. Oudhia P.
(2000): ‘Problems perceived by safed musli (chlorophytum borivilanum) growers of Chhattisgarh (India) region : A study’ J. Med. Arom. Pl. Sci. 22, 4A/23, 1A: 396-399. 6. Singh A and Chauhan, H. S. (2003): ‘Safed musli (Chlorophytum borivilanum) distribution, biodiversity and cultivation. ’ J. Med. Arom. Pl. Sci. , 25: 712-719. 7. Varma P. L. , Upadhyaya M. , Suyal N. and Joshi, H. (2007): ‘A new record of leaf spot of safed musli caused by Alternaria alternata in Kumaun Himalayas, Uttarakhand India’, J. Mycol. & Pl. pathol. , No. 2, p-381. [pic] [pic] [pic]ю