ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI ISOLATED FROM VINCA ROSA LEAVES

Laboratory experiments were conducted in the laboratories of the Department of Biology Sciences / College of Education for Pure Sciences / Karbala University for the period from 9/5/2020 to 25/2/2021. To study the isolation and identification of fungi cultured in the leaves of the Vinca rosa plant and to test its anti-fungal activity against some diseases of the plant and skin fungi. Six genera of endophytic fungi, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp, Fusarium sp, Alternaria alternate, and Cladosporium tenellium were isolated from the leaves of Vinca rosa using Dual culture on Solid Media (PDA) Potato Dextrose Agar. Also, the activity of antagonism was tested between the isolated cultured fungi and three types of dermatophytes Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Microsporum canis using Dual culture on SDA medium. Finally, the sensitivity of S.aureus, P.auroginosa and E.coli to the cultured fungi isolated on Mueller Hinton Agar (MHA) medium was tested. The results of this study indicate a significant difference in the effectiveness of the antagonism against these pathogens, according to the cultured fungus and the pathogen. The effectiveness of the antagonism was evaluated according to the percentages of inhibition, and this result indicates the efficiency of using cultured fungi in agricultural applications as biological resistance agents against plant fungal pathogens as well as a good source of natural antimicrobial agents.