Abstract
The present study aimed to determine minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum fungicidal concentration of the essential oil of Zataria multiflora to control Alternaria solani, Rhizoctonia solani, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus ochraceus and Aspergillus niger. The essential oil of Zataria multiflora was tested in vitro on PDA (malt extract agar medium) with eight concentrations: 0, 10, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 ppm. This investigation followed the completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. GC-MS evaluations of the essential oil revealed that thymol (35%), carvacrol (34%), cymene-p (9.89%), gamma-terpinene (5.88%) and alpha-pinene (4.22%) were the main compounds of Zataria multiflora oil. The results showed that the essential oil of Zataria multiflora has antifungal activity; the lowest inhibition (75%) was observed in the A. niger, while the highest inhibition (95.3%) was observed in A. solani. Minimum inhibitory concentration for A. solani, R. solani, R. stolonifer, A. flavus, A. ochraceus and A. niger was 200, 200, 200, 300, 300 and 200 ppm respectively. In addition, the present results showed that minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) for A. solani, R. solani, R .stolonifer, A. niger and A.ochraceus was 600, 400, 300, 900 and 700 ppm respectively and none of the tested concentrations were fatal for A. flavus. A. solani and R. solani showed a strong sensitivity to Zataria multiflora essential oil at all concentrations. Findings of the current study suggest that essential oils of Zataria multiflora could be used for control of postharvest phytopathogenic fungi on fruits or vegetables.
Highlights
Fruits and vegetables are often subject to varying levels of microbial decay during storage
Chemical compositions of essential oil The chemical composition of the essential oils was determined by Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis
A. niger (s) 0 m (s) 0 m (s) 0 m (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (s) 100 a (c) 100 a (c) 100 a. These results are in agreement with those published by Omidbeygi et al (2007), Suhr and Nielsen (2003) and Solaimani et al (2009) who reported that the major components of thyme essential oil are thymol, carvacrol, and á-pinene
Summary
Fruits and vegetables are often subject to varying levels of microbial decay during storage. Pathogenic fungi usually infect the host through wounds and cause significant economic losses in the commercialization stage (Gatto et al, 2011). Outspread use of fungicides has significant disadvantage including increased cost, worry about fungicides residues on crop, as well as risk for human health and environment (Nikos and Costas, 2007). As alternatives to synthetic fungicides, natural crop protective products are currently in the highlight (Combrinck et al, 2011). These include plant essential oils, a number of which have been reported to show antimicrobial activity against a wide array of plant pathogenic agents
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