Chemical Characterization of Schefflera actinophylla (Endl.) Harms Essential Oil: Antifungal and Antimycotoxin Activities for Safe Storage of Food Grains

Abstract

Cereals are more prone to fungal attacks, which lead to enormous yield loss and reduction in seed quality, nutritional values, and germination. A large number of seed-borne fungi being produced with low molecular weight toxic secondary metabolites called mycotoxins. The present research work evaluated the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic activities of the essential oil of Schefflera actinophylla (SAEO). The GC/MS analysis confirms the presence of 15 phytochemical constituents in SAEO, among which, β-caryophyllene (49.23 %) and α-humulene (26.17 %) were recorded as major chemical components (> 25 %). The SAEO showed broad-spectrum antifungal activity against 15 different seed-borne phytopathogenic fungi with percent mycelial growth inhibition (%MI), minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) ranged between 8.8-26.5 % at 1 μL mL-1, 0.156-2.5 μL mL-1, and 2.5- >10.0 μL mL-1, respectively. The aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) production from toxigenic isolates of A. flavus and F. verticillioides were significantly inhibited by SAEO at 10 μL mL-1, respectively. In the viable maize model assay, the incidences of species of Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium were decreased in SAEO treated samples with increasing seed germination. The obtained result confirms that SAEO could be used as an alternative source for managing mold and mycotoxins contamination in food- and feedstuffs.