ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF SELECTED ESSENTIAL OILS AGAINST THE FUNGAL SPECIES OF THE GENUS EUROTIUM BY CONTACT VAPOUR

Abstract

The aim of this study was evaluation of the antifungal activity of 5 essential oils (EOs),we used concretely thyme, clove, basil, jasmine and rosemary, by vapour contact against the fungal species Eurotium rubrum, E. chevalieri and Eurotium sp.. Each fungus was inoculated in the centre on Czapek Yeast Autolysate Agar (CYA) plates. Plates were tightly sealed with parafilm and incubated for 7, 14, and 21 days at 25 ± 1 °C (three replicates were used for each treatment). Volatile phase effect of concentration 50 µl of the essential oils was found to inhibit on growth of E. rubrum, E. chevalieri and Eurotium sp.. Complete growth inhibition of the isolates by EOs of thyme and clove was observed. The essential oil (EO) of basil had antifungal activity on growth of E. chevalieri only after 7th and 14th days of the incubation, but in case of Eurotium sp. on all days of cultivation. Only E. rubrum was sensitive to jasmine EO and E. chevalieri to basil EO after all days of the incubation. Data was evaluated statistically by 95.0 % Tukey HSD test.
The conclusions indicate that volatile phase of combinations of thyme oil and clove oil showed good potential in the inhibition of growth of Eurotium spp. EOs should find a practical application in the inhibition of the fungal mycelial growth in some kind of the food.