Bidens pilosa as potential biofungicide against postharvest pathogens on two agroforestry cash crops

An in vivo experiment was conducted at the College of Agriculture, CMU, Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines on corn and peanut seeds in order to assess the antifungal effects of the different concentrations of powdered Bidens pilosa leaves against postharvest pathogens. B. pilosa powder was thoroughly mixed at varying amounts as treatments to corn and peanut seeds and observed for the presence of fungal growths during the observation period of up to 35 days. Data gathering revealed the occurrence of 5 fungal species namely Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Fusarium sp., Rhizopus sp., and M. phaseolina. The best antifungal treatment is the chemical fungicide Captan, however, T₅ (30 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) shows the potential to inhibit the growth of A. flavus, Rhizopus sp., and A. niger in corn while T₄ (20 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) had the potential to inhibit or prevent the growth of the two Aspergillus spp. in peanut. It was also noted that for corn, the least fungal count with a value of 1.00 was noted in T₅ (30 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) while for peanut, T₄ (20 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) had the potential to limit the growth of pathogenic fungi with a fungal count value of 1.33. The application of B. pilosa did not affect significantly the percentage germination of corn but with peanut, T₅ (30 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) shows a promising performance. On Seedling Vigor Index (SVI), the application of B. pilosa did not significantly influence the SVI of corn but for peanut, T₅ (30 g of B. pilosa/kilo of seeds) has shown potential as it shows a better performance as compared with the other treatments. In this research, B. pilosa exhibited its potential as a biofungicide.