EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL POTENCY OF CITRUS
ESSENTIAL OILS AGAINST BUILDING FUNGI
RAJESH K. VERMA*, LEENA CHAURASIA AND SADHANA KATIYAR
Building Pests and Mycology Laboratory, Environmental Science and Technology
Division, Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee – 247 667, India
E-mail: rkverma_cbri@yahoo.co.in
---------------------------------* Corresponding Author
ABSTRACT
The volatile essential oils from Citrus limon, C. paradishi, C. sinensis, C.
aurantifolia and C. reticulata were isolated from hydro distillation through a
Clevenger’s Apparatus. Citrus essential oils have been evaluated for their
antifungal potency against building fungi. Out of five essential oils of Citrus,
Citrus aurantifolia and C. reticulata exhibited significant antifungal potency
against building fungi.
KEY WORDS: Antifungal potency, Building fungi, Essential oils, Citrus limon, C.
paradishi, C. sinensis, C. aurantifolia and C. reticulata.
INTRODUCTION
Essential oils are the odorous, volatile product of plant secondary
metabolism normally formed in special cells or groups of cells or as glandular
hairs found on many leaves and stems. Oils occurs as a globule or globules in
the cell and may also be extracted from cells lining the schizogenous ducts or
canals. They may be present in such glandular cell or duct in any or all organs of
the plant including roots, stem, buds, leaves, flower and fruits. However, oils are
commonly concentration in one particular region such as leaves, bark or fruit and
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when occurring in various organs in one plant may process different individual
chemical components (Bonner, 1991).
The higher plants contain essential oil constituted with the secondary
metabolism such as alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolices, and minor chemicals,
which are believed to be synthesized primarily as a chemical defense against
harmful insects, bacteria and fungi and even vertebrate, herbivores (Tsao and
Coats, 1995 and Tsao et al., 1995).
Essential oil of some higher plant has recently proved successful in providing
effective control of storage losses by several pests. These compound were non
phytotoxic and easily biodegradable. Potentialities of some of the essential oils
against fungal diseases of some agricultural crops, stored fruits, vegetables and
food commodities have also been demonstrated (Arora and Pandey, 1977;
Dikshit et al., 1983; Dubey et al., 1983; Tiwari et al., 1988; Asthana et al., 1989;
Deena and Thoppil et al., 2000; Cai et al., 2002; Guynot et al., 2003; Kumbhar et
al., 2004; Benkeblia, 2004). In the present investigation, essential oil of Citrus
limon, C. paradishi, C. sinensis, C. aurantifolia and C. reticulata were isolated
through a Clevenger’s apparatus and evaluated for their fungi toxic activity
against Aspergillus niger, a building fungi.
MAETRIALS AND METHODS
The aboriginal plants viz.
Citrus limon, C. paradishi, C. sinensis, C.
aurantifolia and C. reticulata, were brought to the laboratory and their oil was
isolated with the help of Clevenger’s Apparatus (Clevenger, 1928) using water
as solvent. The isolated volatile fraction showed two distinct layers. An upper oily
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layer and lower aqueous layer both the layers were separated and the moisture
from the oily layer were removed by adding anhydrous sodium sulphate.
Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC)
The building fungi, Aspergillus niger has been maintained in our
laboratory. Prior to evaluation, essential oils were diluted with acetone to desired
concentration. The fungi toxicity of the essential oil was evaluated by the
poisoned food technique (Grover and Moore, 1962; Pandey et al., 1982; Verma
and Chaurasia, 2005). The experiment was performed in triplicate.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The colony diameter (mm) of Aspergillus niger growing on potato dextrose
agar exposed to essential oils of Citrus limon, C. paradishi, C. sinensis, C.
aurantifolia and C. reticulata after 72 hours of incubation at 28oC has been
presented in Table –1. All Citrus essential oils exhibited fungi toxicity as
compared to control. The essential oil of Citrus aurantifolia and C. reticulata
exhibited the highest antifungal potency (MIC) at 100 ppm of concentration after
72 hours of incubation (28oC) against Aspergillus niger. However, essential oils
of Citrus limon and C. paradishi exhibited moderate fungi toxic potency (MIC) at
200 ppm and the essential oil of C. sinensis exhibited least antifungal potency.
The MIC of essential oil of C. sinensis was observed at 300 ppm. The fungi
toxicity
may
be
due
to
the
presence
of
monoterpenes,
oxygenated
monoterpenes, sesqiterpenes, aliphatic alcohol; aliphatic aldehyde, esters,
ketones and other chemical components in evaluated Citrus essential oils.
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CONCLUSION
From the foregoing it is apparent that among five essential oils of Citrus,
two essential oil viz., Citrus auantifolia and C. reticualta have promising
antifungal potency against building fungi. The present study will be helpful in the
realistic approach for the development and formulation of eco- friendly fungicide
and thus in the effective fungi management using natural products.
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Table-1
Mean colony diameter (mm) of Aspergillus niger growing on potato
dextrose agar to different essential oils and concentration after
72 hours of incubation at 28oC.
Essential oil
Concentration (ppm)
50
100
200
300
400
500
Control
90.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
90.0
Citrus limon
20.6
13.0
*
Citrus paradishi
8.3
6.3
*
Citrus sinensis
19.6
16.0
5.3
Citrus aurantifolia
9.3
*
Citrus reticulata
8.6
*
*MIC – Minimum inhibition concentration
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*
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