Antifungal and antiaflatoxinogenic activities of Carum carvi L., Coriandrum sativum L. seed essential oils and their major terpene component against Aspergillus flavus

Abstract

With the purpose of searching for biological substances for controlling aflatoxins production in foodstuffs, we assessed the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities of two essential oils (EOs) extracted from Carum carvi L., Coriandrum sativum L. seed and their major terpene component against Aspergillus flavus. The chemical profiles of Carum carvi, and Coriandrum sativum EOs were identified through Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis where carvone and linalool were respectively, recorded as the major terpene compound (78.85 and 72.34%). The effects of the EOs (0.1–0.7% (v/v)) and terpenes (100–2000 μg/mL) on the hyphal extension and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) synthesis of A. flavus were tested by contact assay in Yeast Extract Sucrose medium. Carum carvi EO displayed a higher antimicrobial activity against A. favus than Coriandrum sativum EO with a minimum inhibitory concentration of about 0.4 and 0.7%, respectively. In the presence of 0.3% of EOs, 73.3 and 99.6% inhibition of AFB1 production was recorded, respectively, with Coriandrum sativm and Carum carvi. The antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic effects of carvone were also more significant than those of linalool (p < 0.05) with respectively, 64 and 16% of growth rate inhibition and 77.9 and 0.1% of AFB1 synthesis decrease recorded at 1000 μg/mL. Hence, the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities of the two tested EOs were similar to their main terpene component. In conclusion, seed essential oils proved to be apotential natural source of antifungal and aflatoxin inhibition agent against Aspergillus flavus.