In vitro antimicrobial activity of „Carum carvi“ L. seed essential oil against pink potato spoilage flora

Abstract

The objective of this research is to assess the ability of using Carum carvi L. seeds essential oil as a biological substance for controlling spoilage germs growth in potatoes during storage. The chemical composition of caraway seeds essential oil, analyzed by GC-MS and by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID), led to the identification of twelve compounds, where carvone was the main one with a percentage of 75.64 % of the total oil. The comparison of the microbial profiles of different potatoes samples showed the presence of the genus Citrobacter and three distinct fungi genera: Aspergillus, Phytophthora and Fusarium only for contaminated potato tubers with internal pink pigmentation. Thus, the antimicrobial activity of caraway seeds essential oil was studied against these strains. The antimicrobial activity of the oil against the isolated strains was evaluated through the agar diffusion method using different volumes (10, 20, 50 and 100 µl). All tested strains were inhibited by caraway seeds essential oil in a dose-dependent manner. The obtained results suggest the use of Carum carvi L. as a promising natural substance for the preservation of potatoes by contact vapor method.