Comparative Study of Supplementing Two Biological Bioagents and Conventional Fungicide Against <em>Alternaria dauci</em> Pathogenicity and Monitoring Plant Growth and Yield of Coriander

Author : Seham M. A. El-Gamal and Ehsan M. Rashad

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) belongs to the Apiaceae family and is amongst the widely used medicinal plants, possessing nutritional and medicinal properties. Coriander leaf spot, caused by Alternaria dauci is the most devasting disease worldwide including Egypt. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate cumin and thyme oils nanoemulsions (EONEs) and their crude foliar application impacts in enhancing the antifungal activities against A. dauci and coriander growth promotion as an alternative approach for this disease management to synthetic fungicides. Cumin and thyme oils were characterized using ζ-potential, ζ-average and TEM analysis. Two field experiments were carried out during two successive winter seasons of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 using concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 ml/L for cumin and thyme oils nanoemulsions and 1.0 ml/L for their crude. The results revealed that the effects of cumin and thyme oils nanoemulsions treatments on all characteristics of coriander vegetative growth and yield were significant. The concentration of 0.5 ml/L nanoemulsion (EONEs) was the best of both cumin and thyme with the superiority of thyme helping in increasing the number of leaves, dry matter %, umbellets number, seed yield g/plant, volatile oil percentage and oil yield ml/plant compared with the control and other treatments during the two seasons.  Similarly, foliar application with cumin and thyme oils (EOs) crude increased all previous characteristics compared to the control ranking third and fourth among the best treatments with the superiority of thyme oil in both seasons. The essential oil components of coriander volatile oil were also affected by the different types and concentrations of cumin and thyme oils, which increased the dominant compound percentage beta-linalool. On the other hand, the results revealed that foliar application of cumin and thyme oils nanoemulsions at 0.75 and 1.0 ml/L concentrations were the most effective treatments in reducing coriander disease leaf blight incidence (DI) and disease severity (DS) parameters during both seasons compared to control plants. Therefore, cumin and thyme oils nanoemulsions represent a promising strategy for a strong antifungal activity in controlling A. dauc and exhibition coriander growth and yield improvement, i.e., they provide important inferences for the development and utilization of green chemicals as antifungal delivery systems and increasing long term safety for A. dauc controlling and growth factors in coriander.

Keywords : Coriander, Alternaria dauci, cumin and thyme oils, nanoemulsions, yield.,

Received:11/26/2023 12:00:00 AM; Accepted: 12/21/2023 12:00:00 AM