In vitro susceptibility of opportunistic Fusarium spp. to essential oils

Abstract

The inhibitory effects of essential oils extracted from 10 Indian plants were evaluated against five fungi. The plants used for extraction of essential oils were six species of the genus Eucalyptus and Ocimum basilicum, Prosopis cineraria and Derris indica. The fungi used in the experiments were Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, F. pallidoroseum, F. acuminatum and F. chlamydosporum. The susceptibility of the Fusarium species was tested by the paper disc method and the serial dilution technique. The results were compared with the inhibitory effects of miconazole on the fungi. The essential oils extracted from the Eucalyptus species markedly inhibited fungal growth. Prosopis cineraria did not show inhibiting properties. Among the fungi, F. oxysporum proved to be the most resistant species.

Assessment of the growth inhibiting effect of some plant essential oils on different Fusarium species isolated from sorghum and maize grains

“…The inhibitory effect of essential oils from 10 Indian plants against growth of the genus Fusarium has been reported by Paster et al (1995) and Rai et al (1999). Basilico & Basilico (1999) have tested the antifungal activity of essential oils against fungi, such as Fusarium and Aspergillus species.…”

Evaluation of the anti-Fusarium oxysporum f. sp cicer and anti-Alternaria porri effects of some essential oils

“…The inhibitory effects of essential oils of eucalyptus, Ocimum basilicum, Prosopis cineraria, Derris indica (Rai et al 1999) and Chukrasia tabularis, Melia dubia and Hyssopus officinalis (Nagalakshmi et al 2003) were evaluated against F. oxysporum. Antifungal properties of essential oils of three Pistacia species have also been studied for F. sambucinum (Duru et al 2003).…”

“…Public demands to reduce pesticide use, stimulated by greater awareness of environment and health issues, as well as development of resistance of some of the pathogens to fungicides, limits the post-harvest application of chemicals to agricultural products (Karabulut and Baykal 2003). Only a few essential oils have been evaluated for their anti Fusarium activity (Browers and Locke 2000;Rai et al 1999) and up to our knowledge no reports are there for evaluation of essential oils against A. porri. In the present study, 75 essential oils were evaluated for their antifungal effects on FOC and A. porri.…”

Eucalyptus occidentalis plantlets are naturally infected by pathogenic Agrobacterium tumefaciens

“…This result must be examined with the recurring question of reservoirs of pathogenic Agrobacterium in mind. The data presented above clearly demonstrate that E. occidentalis may host pathogenic agrobacteria, in spite of its high concentrations of natural antiseptic compounds (Harkenthal et al, 1999), and marked resistance to several plant pathogens (Rai et al, 1999). This feature should be taken into account in terms of field management in, or production of soil substrate for tree-nurseries.…”