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Abstract
This study evaluated the antifungal and insecticidal properties of soybean extract on Marasmiellus scandens (causal pathogen of white thread blight disease on cocoa), Erythricium salmonicolor (causal pathogen of pink disease of cocoa) and termite (Microtermes subhyalinus). Agar plate test was used to determine the inhibitory activity of the extract on mycelial growth of the pathogens while a contact toxicity bioassay was conducted on the termites. Extract of the soybean reduced mycelial growth in a dose-dependent pattern, with 20% of the extract attaining the highest inhibition. Percentage inhibition of 80.4 and 86.8 were recorded for E. salmonicolor and M. scandens, respectively after 7 days of incubation. The IC50 values ranged between 0.64–2.44% and 0.12–0.45% for E. salmonicolor and M. scandens respectively. However, activity of the extract on the termite was low, with an LC50 of 15.42% after 24 hours of exposure. The effect of the extract on the fungal pathogens indicates that it could be further explored towards the development of a plant-based control method against white thread blight and pink diseases of cocoa in Ghana.
Acknowledgements
The assistance of the technical staff of the Plant Pathology and Entomology Divisions of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana in the laboratory evaluation studies is gratefully acknowledged. The support of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Ghana and the University of Ghana Research Fund are also acknowledged.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability
Data used in support of the publication of this manuscript is available upon request from the corresponding author