Antifungal activity of plant essential oils against Fusarium oxysporum schlecht. and Aspergillus niger van tiegh. from papaya

Abstract

The essential oil of leaves of five medicinal plants specifically Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapff., Mentha spicata L., Cinnamomum tamala (Buch-Ham.) Nees., Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. and Artemisia indica Willd was applied as in-vitro antifungal activity to examine the effect of the oils to control postharvest rots in papaya caused by Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. and Aspergillus niger van Tiegh. The pathogens were isolated from infected papaya fruits obtained from local markets. The essential oils were extracted from the Clevenger apparatus. Pathogenicity test was confirmed by inoculating the pathogen into healthy papaya fruit. The assessment of fungitoxicity was carried out by poison food technique using five different proportions of each 2.5µl/ml, 5µl/ml, 10µl/ml, 20µl/ml 40µl/ml and control to determine percentage inhibition of mycelial growth of test fungi. All the tested oil showed significant antifungal effect (P<0.05) over both test fungi. Among all five essential oils, Cymbopogon citratus showed the most effective antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum which inhibited 100% mycelial growth at 40µl/ml. Furthermore, Mentha spicata performed best antifungal effect to control Aspergillus niger which inhibited the mycelial growth by 92.93% at 40µl/ml concentration.