Impact of essential oils on growth rate, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol production by Fusarium graminearum under different temperature and water activity conditions in maize grain

Abstract

Aims: The effect of five essential oils (oregano, cinnamon, lemongrass, clove and palmarose) on growth rate, zearalenone (ZEA) and deoxynivalenol (DON) production by Fusarium graminearum strains was assessed. Methods and Results: The influence of the essential oils was tested on irradiated maize at two concentrations (500 and 1000 mg kg )1 ), at different water activity (a w ) (0AE95 and 0AE995) and temperature (20 and 30°C) levels. At 0AE995a w all essential oils tested had an inhibitory effect on growth rate of F. graminearum at both temperatures studied. At this a w level, DON production in general was inhibited by all essential oils at 30°C and, although palmarose and clove were the only essential oils with statistically significant inhibitory effect on ZEA production, an inhibitory trend was observed when cinnamon and oregano oils were added to maize grain. Conclusions: Antifungal and antimycotoxigenic activity of the essential oils assayed was shown to depend on environmental conditions. Significance and Impact of the Study: It is apparent that essential oils should be considered as alternative preharvest natural fungicides. Further investigation on natural maize grain might be useful to study the effectiveness of these essential oils in the presence of natural mycoflora of maize grain.

Cinnamon and Health

“…Cinnamon oil demonstrated inhibitory activity against Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, A. ochraceus, Fusarium moniliforme, F. graminearum and F. proliferatum as well as Saccharomyces cerevisiae in several further studies (De et al, 1999;Soliman and Badeaa, 2002;Ranasinghe et al, 2002;Bartine and Tantaoui-Elaraki, 1997;Velluti et al, 2003;Velluti et al, 2004). Furthermore, oils obtained from C. zeylanicum were found to be most active in vitro tested against dermatophyte strains isolated from patients with dermatophytosis inhibiting 80% of the dermatophyte strains tested (Lima et al, 1993).…”

The chemical composition and biological activity of clove essential oil, Eugenia caryophyllata (Syzigium aromaticum L. Myrtaceae): a short review

“…In a recent report, SEM micrographs showed significant morphological damage with cellular deformity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells by clove oil (Chami et al, 2005). The fungicidal activity of E. caryophyllata essential oil has also been reported on several food-borne fungal species (Velluti et al, 2004 shows powerful antioxidant activity; moreover, it can be used as an easily accessible source of natural antioxidants and in pharmaceutical applications (Gülçin et al, 2004).…”

The inhibitory effect of oregano extract on the growth of Aspergillus spp. and on sterigmatocystin biosynthesis

“…On the other hand, much lower concentrations (500e700 mg/g) of oregano essential oils were needed for inhibition of fumonisin B1, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol biosynthesis by Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium graminearum in maize grain (Marín, Velluti, Ramos, & Sanchis, 2004;Velluti, Sanchis, Ramos, Egido, & Marin, 2003;Velluti, Sanchis, Ramos, Turon, & Marin, 2004) and inhibition of aflatoxin B 1 biosynthesis by A. flavus and A. parasiticus in maize meal extract agar (MMEA) during 11 days at 25 C (Bluma, Amaiden, Daghero, & Etcheverry, 2008).…”