Title: Soil amendment with Aerva javanica (Burm. F.) Juss. ex Schult. in the control of root rot fungi of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] and mung bean [Vigna radiata (L.)]
Abstract: Root rot fungi cause severe losses of crop plants, so the present work was carried out to determine the effect of <em>Aerva javanica </em>parts powder on root infecting fungi of mung bean (<em>Vigna radiata </em>(L.) and cowpea (<em>Vigna unguiculata </em>(L.) Walp.). <em>A. javanica </em>parts (stem, leaves and flower) were used as soil amendments at 0.1, 1 and 5% to check the effectiveness on growth parameters. All the plant parts showed a significant reduction in root rot fungi like <em>Fusarium </em>spp., <em>Rhizoctonia solani </em>Kuhn, and <em>Macrophomina phaseolina </em>(Tassi) Goid. It was noted that germination percentage, fresh weight, leaf area and number of nodules were significantly higher and the inhibitory effect on root rot fungi increased when the soil was amended with <em>A. javanica </em>leaves at 1%. Thus, among all the treatments, <em>A. javanica </em>leaves at 1% were found to be the most effective against root rot fungi.