Inhibition of Alternaria stem canker on tomato by essential oils from species.

The toxicity of four essential oils extracted from , , and was tested against the phytopathogen , which causes Alternaria stem canker on tomatoes. Diseases caused by fungi are responsible for great economic losses in terms of production and are controlled by synthetic fungicides; however, essential oils offer an alternative, since they have been proven to be effective for controlling against various plant pathogens. In this way, the antifungal activity of essential oils was tested using potato dextrose agar medium with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20.0 µL mL. and essential oils presented 100% mycelial growth inhibition of and were also able to control Alternaria stem canker disease under greenhouse conditions. Tomato plants treated with these essential oils exhibited area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values of 230.10 and 241.42, differing from the control condition, which showed an AUDPC value of 268.92. The essential oils of and can be an alternative for controlling Alternaria stem canker disease of tomatoes and should be formulated as a potential fungicide against the pathogen.