The antifungal activity of aqueous extracts of nine plants viz, Azadirachta indica, Parthenium hysterophorus, Momordica charantia, Allium sativum, Eucalyptus globules, Calotropis procera, Aloe vera, Beta vulgaris and Datura stramonium were assessed in vitro against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae, Rhizoctonia solani and Macrophomina phaseolina, the soil borne phytopathogens. The assessment of fungitoxic effect was carried out by using three different concentrations i.e., 5, 10 and 20% against the test fungi, in terms of percentage of mycelial growth inhibition. The extract of A. sativum completely inhibited the mycelial growth of M. phaseolina at all the concentrations. The extracts of D. stramonium and E. globulus inhibited the mycelial growth of R. solani of 72%, and 70.7% respectively at 20% concentration, that of A. sativum, E. globulus and D. stramonium exhibited inhibition percentage of 63.3%, 61.8% and 61.1% respectively at 20% concentration on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae. The application of plant extracts for disease management could be less expensive, easily available, non-polluting and eco-friendly.

A total of seven Trichoderma species were isolated from rhizosphere soils of brinjal on potato dextrose agar medium. Based on morphological and cultural characters, the isolates were assigned to different species viz., Trichoderma viride, T. harzianum, T. virens, T. atroviride, T. koningii, T. pseudokoningii and T. reesei. Trichoderma species were screened for the production of extracellular enzymes to identify the strain with high antagonistic potential against fungal pathogens. The screening was done following plate assay method on the respective solid media. These strains were positive for cellulase, amylase, pectinase, protease and chitinase activity. The excretion of extracellular lytic enzymes reveals their usefulness in the application of Trichoderma species as biocontrol strains in agricultural soils. The use of simple solid media permits the rapid screening of large populations of fungi for the presence or absence of specific enzymes

A total of 36 species of fungi belonging to 15 genera were isolated from brinjal crop fields of Kodad. The present study results clearly revealed that the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil showed variation in diversity of mycoflora. Aspergillus was observed to be an important component of the present rhizosphere and nonrhizosphere soil fungal flora constituting 70.54% and 58.96%, respectively, and Aspergillus niger was observed to be predominant species in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils.