Antifungal Potential and Chemical Composition of Essential Oils Extracted From Artemisia herba-alba and Salvia lavandulifolia Plants

A. Bouglad, H. Karim, H. Boubaker, F. Msanda and K. Cherifi

Background and Objective: In postharvest, citrus fruit are very susceptible to be infected by pathogenic fungi during the period between harvest and consumption. The current study described the antifungal activity and chemical composition of Artemisia herba-alba (Asso.) and Salvia lavandulifolia (Vahl.) essential oils against Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum and Geotrichum citri-aurantii, major pathogens of citrus fruit. Materials and Methods: The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from areal parts were characterized by gas chromatography hyphenated with mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). Results: The major components were α-Thujone 50.5%, Camphor 13.5%, β-Thujone 11.6% and the Camphene 6.1% for Artemisia herba-alba and Camphre 31.17%, α-pinene 17.52%, Camphene 11.83% and 1,8-cineole 9.11% for Salvia lavandulifolia. An important antifungal effect was observed with total inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination of the two Penicillium by Artemisia herba-alba essential oils. Artemisia herba-alba essential oils had the lowest Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) against the three pathogens with 1000 μL L^–1 for Penicillium digitatum, 2000 μL L^–1 for Penicillium italicum and 2000 μL L^–1 for Geotrichum citri-aurantii. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the essential oil of Artemisia herba-alba can be a source of natural antifungal agents.

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