IDENTIFICATION OF ANTHRACHNOSE DISEASE ON STRAWBERRY FRUIT (Fragraria vesca L.) AND ITS CONTROL BY BETEL (Piper betle L.) LEAF EXTRACT

In Indonesia, strawberry is one of fruits which has high economic values. The growth of strawberry has increased significantly, but its productivity is still low because of disease attack. Disease that attacks strawberry started from nursery to post harvest is anthracnose that can be caused by Colletotrichum spp. Control efforts of anthracnose disease up to now has been done with application of synthetic chemicals which are known to be hazardous to the environment and human health. Betel leaf (Piper betle L.) is natural plant that potentially used as phytofungicide. Essential oils on betel leaf extract is reported can decrease the growth of pathogenic fungi. The objectives of the research were to identify Colletotrichum spp. in strawberry fruit that showed anthracnose symptoms, to test the potency of betel leaf extract as phytofungicide, and to evaluate the effect of betel leaf extract in inhibiting infection and disease severity of Colletotrichum in strawberry. Samples were taken from strawberry nursery in Magelang, Indonesia. The disease symptoms were isolated on Potato Dextrose Agar, followed by identification of fungal colony and morphology by semi permanent slide preparation. Betel leaves were extracted with water to get a concentration of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%, respectively. An in vitro experiment was done to evaluate the inhibition rate of betel leaf extract to the growth of Colletotrichum spp. colony. An in vivo experiment was done by submersion of strawberry to betel leaf extract before (preventive method) and after antrachnose attack (curative method), then disease infection and disease severity were measured after 7 days. The result of the research showed that anthracnose disease in strawberry was caused by C. gloeosporioides (Penz.). Twenty percent of betel leaf extract in an in vitro test had potential as phytofungicide and concentration of 100% betel leaf extract was the best concentration to inhibit the growth of C. gloeosporioides (Penz.) colony by 70.26+/-0,61%. In an in vivo experiment, submersion of strawberry before pathogen infection (preventive) with 100% betel leaf extract decreased disease infection by 40% and disease severity by 16%, respectively. While treatment of submersion of strawberry after pathogen infection (curative) decreased disease infection by 33,4% and disease severity by 17%.