Antifungal activity and growth promotion of three types of compost extracts against Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani associated with peach seedling decline in nurseries

Three types of composts (T1, T2, and T3) composed of variable percents of bovine, ovine, fowl manures, green waste and olive pomace were used in this study. Composts were effective in controlling Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium solani associated with peach decline. In vitro evaluation of four doses of the three composts extracts against mycelium growth of F. solani and F. oxysporum showed that the compost extracts have a significant effect on mycelial growth. The highest inhibition percent was obtained with 10% dose for the three compost extracts, with values more than 48.8% and 50% of F. solani and F. oxysporum, respectively. However, the filtration of the tea composts revealed to be ineffective against the hyphal reduction for both pathogens. The in- vivo experiments exhibited the efficacy of these composts in reducing the seedlings root rot. In fact, T1, T2 and T3 reduced the root rot and browning of plants inoculated with F. solani by 50.19% and plants inoculated with F. oxysporum by 41.86%, 46.45% and 48.3%, respectively. Furthermore, these composts seemed to improve the sanitary state of peach seedlings inoculated with F. oxysporum. However, the improvement of sanitary state of peach inoculated with F. solani was just noted in case of the composts T1 and T2. The treatment of peach seedlings with these improved plant growth by increasing height and root weight of seedlings inoculated with F. oxysporum. However, none of these composts was able to stimulate growth of plants inoculated with F. solani. Root weight of plants inoculated with F. solani was negatively correlated with bovine manure in the compost, positively with fowl (r = 0.69) and sheep manure content (r = 0.69). Besides, a significant negative correlation among sanitary state index of plants inoculated with F. oxysporum in the case of olive pomace (r = -0.92) and the polyphenols content (r = -0.74) of compost was found.