Abstract

ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ACANTHOPHORA SPICIFERA, PADINA TETRASTOMATICA AND CAULERPA SCALPELLIFORMIS AGAINST SOME FUNGAL PATHOGENS IN CRUDE AND FRACTIONATED FORM

*Dr. D. Radhika and R. Priya

ABSTRACT

One representative from each group of seaweeds namely Acanthophora spicifera from Rhodophyceae, Padina tetrastomatica from Phaeophyceae and Caulerpa scalpelliformis from Chlorophyceae was chosen. Crude and fractions of the seaweeds were taken using four solvents namely water, ethanol, acetone and methanol by soxhlet extraction. They were then compared for their antifungal activity by disc diffusion technique against five fungal strains, namely Aspergillus terrus, A. fumigatus, Gibberline sp., Alternaria sp. and Ganoderma sp. A. fumigatus was the highest inhibited fungal species followed by Alternaria sp. and A. terrus. Ganoderma sp. showed the least activity against all the pathogens tested.

Keywords: Seaweeds, Acanthophora, Antifungal, Aspergillus, Alternaria, Disc Diffusion.