Antifungal activity of some medicinal plant extracts against the most prevalent fungal pathogens causing spoilage of some fruits

Document Type : Original articles

Authors

1 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Damietta University, New Damietta, 34517, Egypt

2 Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Damietta University, New Damietta, 34517, Egypt.

Abstract

Fungi are the major disease-causing agents of fruits. They cause considerable losses to post harvest fruits during transportation and storage. Ten infected fruit species were collected from the local markets in Damietta Governorate, Egypt for surveying the fungal pathogens on these fruits. Ten fungal species were isolated and identified, among them, Alternaria alternata and Fusarium oxysporum exhibited the most prevalent fungal species isolated from mandarins and grapes, respectively. In this study, the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of eleven wild medicinal plants were tested against the two prevalent fungi at five concentrations (0, 1, 3, 5, 10%; w/v). The greater relative inhibition of fungal growth, along with the lower C50 values revealed that the ethanolic extract of the tested plants exhibited the stronger antifungal activity when compared to water extracts. Out of the eleven plant species investigated, Thymus capitatus and Eucalyptus citriodora were the most effective for fungal growth, while Nicotiana glauca was the least effective. Therefore, we recommend the using of Thymus capitatus and Eucalyptus citriodora extracts as potential antifungal preservatives for fruits against fungal spoilage.

Keywords

Scientific Journal for Damietta Faculty of Science
Volume 5, Issue 1
Special Volume, Conference
December 2015
Pages 12-23

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