Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(2), 2290-2300; doi:10.3390/ijms13022290
Article

In Vitro Control of Post-Harvest Fruit Rot Fungi by Some Plant Essential Oil Components

Ippolito Camele 1 email, Luciana Altieri 1 email, Laura De Martino 2 email, Vincenzo De Feo 2,* email, Emilia Mancini 2 email and Gian Luigi Rana 1 email
1 Department of Biology, Plant Protection and Agro-Forestry Biotechnology, Basilicata University, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10-85100, Potenza, Italy 2 Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Salerno University, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 21 January 2012; in revised form: 13 February 2012 / Accepted: 15 February 2012 / Published: 21 February 2012
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [138 KB, uploaded 21 February 2012 10:09 CET]
Abstract: Eight substances that are main components of the essential oils from three Mediterranean aromatic plants (Verbena officinalis, Thymus vulgaris and Origanum vulgare), previously found active against some phytopathogenic Fungi and Stramenopila, have been tested in vitro against five etiological agents of post-harvest fruit decay, Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium italicum, P. expansum, Phytophthora citrophthora and Rhizopus stolonifer. The tested compounds were β-fellandrene, β-pinene, camphene, carvacrol, citral, o-cymene, γ-terpinene and thymol. Citral exhibited a fungicidal action against P. citrophthora; carvacrol and thymol showed a fungistatic activity against P. citrophthora and R. stolonifer. Citral and carvacrol at 250 ppm, and thymol at 150 and 250 ppm stopped the growth of B. cinerea. Moreover, thymol showed fungistatic and fungicidal action against P. italicum. Finally, the mycelium growth of P. expansum was inhibited in the presence of 250 ppm of thymol and carvacrol. These results represent an important step toward the goal to use some essential oils or their components as natural preservatives for fruits and foodstuffs, due to their safety for consumer healthy and positive effect on shelf life extension of agricultural fresh products.
Keywords: fungitoxic activity; monoterpenes; plant essential oils; post-harvest diseases

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Camele, I.; Altieri, L.; De Martino, L.; De Feo, V.; Mancini, E.; Rana, G.L. In Vitro Control of Post-Harvest Fruit Rot Fungi by Some Plant Essential Oil Components. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 2290-2300.

AMA Style

Camele I, Altieri L, De Martino L, De Feo V, Mancini E, Rana GL. In Vitro Control of Post-Harvest Fruit Rot Fungi by Some Plant Essential Oil Components. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2012; 13(2):2290-2300.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Camele, Ippolito; Altieri, Luciana; De Martino, Laura; De Feo, Vincenzo; Mancini, Emilia; Rana, Gian Luigi. 2012. "In Vitro Control of Post-Harvest Fruit Rot Fungi by Some Plant Essential Oil Components." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 13, no. 2: 2290-2300.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. EISSN 1422-0067 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert