Antifungal activity of essential oils of three aromatic plants from western Algeria against five fungal pathogens of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill)

The antifungal effect of the essential oils from Thymus capitatus L., Daucus crinitus Desf. and Tetraclinis articulate Vahl., aerial parts was evaluated in vitro against five phytopathogenic fungi of tomato (Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria solani, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp1 and Penicillium sp2). Our results showed that among the three plant species tested, T. capitatus oil was the most potent antifungal against the fungi (inhibition of mycelial growth of 100 % at a concentration of 2 mu g mL(-1)). Furthermore, the essential oil of T. articulata was also effective against F. oxysporum, A. solani, A. niger, Penicillium sp1 and Penicillium sp2 with an inhibition of mycelial growth greater than 57 % at a concentration of 5 mu g mL(-1). D. crinitus essential oil was less effective. T. capitatus essential oil was dominated by carvacrol (69.6 %) and p-cymene (12.4 %). The isochavicol isobutyrate (44.9 %) and isochavicol 2-methylbutyrate (9.7 %) were the major compounds in D. crinitus essential oil, while the most abundant compounds in T. articulata were apinene (32.0 %), cedrol (11.0 %) and 3-carene (9.6 %). The plant essential oils were found to be an effective antifungal against of mycelial growth and, therefore, can be exploited as an ideal treatment against disease rot of tomato or as a new potential source of natural additives for the food and/or pharmaceutical industries.