Morphological identification and in vitro management of Alternaria alternata causing fruit rot of persimmon

Persimmon is one of the major fruit crops in Pakistan. Fruit rot of persimmon is a continuing threat to growers and is accountable for enormous economic loss. The investigations were done on persimmon fruit that were collected from local markets of Lahore. Diseased persimmon fruits were isolated and identified on the basis of cultural and morphological characteristics. On PDA, the cultivated isolates continuously produced dark brown to black colonies. Conidia had a small, conical beak with both transverse and longitudinal septa, and they were olivaceous to dark brown in color. Conidiophores were either branched or unbranched, short, septate, hyaline to olivaceous brown. Frequency of isolated fungi was calculated. The maximum percentage of A. alternata (61.00 %) was recorded followed by C. gloeosporioides (14.30 %) and B. theobromae (10.70 %). The least isolated pathogen was R. stolonifer (6.00 %) with a mean value of 5.00%. Evaluation of various plant extracts, such as (Cascabela thevetia, Euphorbia milii, Moringa oleifera, Plumeria rubra, Quisqualis indica, Syzygium aromaticum) was performed with Agar Well Diffusion Technique through CRD design The findings showed that with medicinal plants that were extracted with methanol and ethanol, Moringa oleifera and Syzygium aromaticum showed significant results at higher concentrations and showed maximum zone of inhibition while Cascabela thevetia was least effective against S. sclerotiorum.