PStudy of the antifungal activity of essential oil extracted from seeds of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. for its use as food conservative

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate in vitro antifungal activity of dry seeds’ essential oil extracted from Foeniculum vulgare Mill. The screening of antifungal activity was carried out by the diffusion and microatmospheric method. Results obtained indicate that fennel seed essential oil has an inhibiting effect on the tested strains. The method of dilution enabled us to evaluate the values of the minimum fungistatic concentration (MFSC) and the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFCC). These concentrations lie between 625 and 1250 µg.ml-1. The antifungal index (AI50) was also estimated, Alternaria strain seems to be most sensitive with an AI50 close to 26.22 ± 0.693 µg.ml-1. With the rise of this study, it is shown that fennel seed essential oil could be regarded as a very promising preservative for food industry which is able to prevent the mycelia growth responsible of food deterioration. Key words: Essential oil, antifungal activity, Foeniculum vulgare Mill.