Eco-friendly Oil-in-Water Emulsion Formulation of Eucalyptus Oil for Controlling Some Important Phytopathogenic Fungi

Abstract

Actually, a prodigious interest resides with the improvement and the use of particular biocontrol agent for the control of disease on plants. Our objective was to prepare an alternatives fungicide oil-in-water emulsion of eucalyptus oil and check shelf life stability by measuring number of physical parameters before and after storage tests to be sure that the formulation was stable and evaluates the antifungal activity of the oil itself and its developed formulation oil in water emulsion (EW) by the poisoned food technique. The results revealed that the prepared formulation showed the better storage stability and also, had good antifungal activity as a mycelial growth inhibition against all tested phytopathogenic fungi in compared with the eucalyptus oil. The EC50 values of eucalyptus oil on the tested phytopathogenic fungi; Colletotrichum dematium, Drechslera hawaiiensis, Humicola fuscoatra, Phoma spp and Nigrospora sphaerica were 5025.36, 4440.60, 4625.60, 5277.40 and 6115.79 ppm, respectively and the EC50 values of prepared oil water emulsion formulation on the tested phytopathogenic fungi were 196.37, 287.58, 353.00, 312.10 and 490.30 ppm, respectively. Eucalyptus oil could be successfully formulated in the form of stable oil water emulsion. The present results demonstrated that oil water emulsion formulation could be used as botanical fungicide to protect some crops from fungal diseases.