Evaluation of antifungal activity of some plant essential oils against tomato grey mould disease

Ten plant essential oils (PEOs) were used for evaluating the antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea through the volatile and contact methods. Moreover, six essential oils of the six plants including cinnamon, rosemary, ginger, ajwain, cumin, and garlic at concentration of 25 mu L/mL, which showed the higher inhibition of the mycelia growth of the pathogen were selected for further experiments. Contact and volatile phase effects of these six PEOs at the concentrations of 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 35 mu L/mL were evaluated on mycelia growth and spore germination of the pathogen in vitro. The essential oils of cinnamon, ajwain, cumin, and garlic (concentrations higher than 20 mu L/mL), which indicated the highest inhibition of pathogen isolates growth were selected for further studies in the greenhouse. Volatile phase effects of the PEOs were consistently found to be more effective on the fungal growth than the contact phase. The four used PEOs inhibited the growth of pathogen and the development of grey mould on the tomato plants under the greenhouse conditions. However, none of the treatments affected the plants height and fresh and dry weights. This study aims to indicate the PEOs can be considered as an alternative to fungicides for protecting the tomato plants against B. cinerea.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the antifungal activity of ten plant essential oils (PEOs) against Botrytis cinerea. Four essential oils showed significant inhibition of pathogen growth, particularly in the volatile phase.