Medicinal plants are store house of remedies to cure all ailments of mankind. The use of plants as medicine is widespread throughout the world. The secondary metabolities present in the plants showed various biological activities and act in plant defence mechanism. Various pathogenic organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses attack plants at various stages of their development and thereby reduce their yield and productivity. Among all the pathogenic organisms, phytopathogenic fungi cause severe losses in plants and crop-production. However, these fungal diseases can be managed by the use of synthetic fungicides but due to the overzealous and indiscriminate use of these synthetic fungicides, has created different types of environmental and toxicological problems. Therefore, natural products symbolize safety in contrast to the synthetics as they have eco-friendly approach and are cheap. In the present investigation, the methanol and aqueous extracts of leaves as well as rhizome of three different medicinal plants viz. Azadirachta indica, Lantana camara and Curcuma longa were used against five fungal phytopathogens viz. Curvularia lunata, Bipolaris specifera, Rhizoctonia solani, Macrophomina phaseolina and Alternaria alternata by agar well diffusion method. Methanolic extracts of plant parts showed maximum antifungal activity against the phytopathogens than the aqueous extract. Curcuma longa rhizome extract showed antifungal activity against all the plant pathogens and maximum zone of inhibition was showed at conc. 200µl/ml against Rhizoctonia solani, Bipolaris specifera, Curvularia lunata and Macrophomina phaseolina (11mm, 7.66mm, 8mm and 7mm respectively), followed by leaf extract of Curcuma longa and Azadirachta indica. The minimum activity was showed by Lantana camara. Phytochemical screening of plant extracts revealed that the maximum phytoconstituents (Saponin, steroid, alkaloid, Flavonoid, carbohydrate, tannin, anthocyanin) is present in methanolic extracts than the aqueous extract. Hence, it was concluded that methanolic extract possess sufficient antifungal activity under controlled conditions to warrant a further investigation under field conditions.

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