Antifungal activities of selected essential oils against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322, with emphasis on Syzygium aromaticum essential oil

doi:10.1016/j.jbiosc.2016.09.011

Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering

Volume 123, Issue 3, March 2017, Pages 308-313

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2016.09.011 Get rights and content

The antifungal effects of four essential oils viz., clove (Syzygium aromaticum), lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), mint (Mentha × piperita) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) were evaluated against wilt causing fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322. The inhibitory effect of oils showed dose-dependent activity on the tested fungus. Most active being the clove oil, exhibiting complete inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination at 125 ppm with IC₅₀ value of 18.2 and 0.3 ppm, respectively. Essential oils of lemongrass, mint and eucalyptus were inhibitory at relatively higher concentrations. The Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of clove oil was 31.25 ppm by broth microdilution method. Thirty one different compounds of clove oil, constituting approximately ≥99% of the oil, were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy analysis. The major components were eugenol (75.41%), E-caryophyllene (15.11%), α-humulene (3.78%) and caryophyllene oxide (1.13%). Effect of clove oil on surface morphology of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322 was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SEM observation revealed shrivelled hyphae while AFM observation showed shrunken and disrupted spores in clove oil treated samples. In pots, 5% aqueous emulsion of clove oil controlled F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322 infection on tomato plants. This study demonstrated clove oil as potent antifungal agent that could be used as biofungicide for the control of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici in both preventive and therapeutic manner.

Section snippets

Chemicals and strains

The selected essential oils were procured from Gogia Chemicals, Okhla, New Delhi (India) and stored at 4°C till further used. Culture media, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), Tween-80 and resazurin were purchased from Merck, India. The resazurin indicator solution was prepared by dissolving a 270 mg tablet in 40 ml of sterile distilled water. A vortex mixer was used to ensure that it was a well-dissolved and homogenous solution. F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322 strain was procured from Indian Type

Antifungal activity assay

All essential oils inhibited the mycelial growth of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 1). A concentration of 125 ppm of clove essential oil completely inhibited the mycelial growth of fungus. Essential oils of lemon grass and mint were found to be fungicidal at 250 and 500 ppm, respectively. Eucalyptus oil exhibited fungal mycelial growth inhibition percentage ranging from 15.93% to 72.5%.

Inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of each essential oil were also

Discussion

The present investigation revealed that all essential oils tested, had moderate to high in vitro antifungal activity against F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322. The varying susceptibility of the pathogen towards essential oils was reflected in trend received from both qualitative (mycelial growth inhibition) and quantitative (fungal spore germination) bioassays. The efficacy of essential oils against the pathogen was in the order of clove oil > lemongrass > mint > eucalyptus. The antifungal

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India (grant no. BT/PR7980/AGR/5/617/2013).

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Antifungal activities of selected essential oils against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322, with emphasis on Syzygium aromaticum essential oil

Section snippets

Chemicals and strains

Antifungal activity assay

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Crop Prot.

Biol. Control.

S. Afr. J. Bot.

Pestic. Biochem. Phys.

LWT - Food Sci. Technol.

Int. J. Food Microbiol.

Prog. Cryst. Growth Charact. Mater.

Int. J. Food Microbiol.

Acta Trop.

J. Food Prot.

Int. J. Food Microbiol.

J. Ethnopharmacol.

Fusarium wilts of ornamental crops and their management

Crop Prot.

Detection of fumonisin producing Fusarium verticillioides in paddy (Oryza sativa. L) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Braz. J. Microbiol.

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World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

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Arab. J. Chem.

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