Inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis by essential oils of flowers and stems of Rhanterium adpressum

Abstract

In the present study, we evaluated the antifungal activity of essential oils extracted from the stems and flowers of Rhanterium adpressum, a spontaneous plant growing in North Africa. The plant samples were collected from four regions in the Algerian desert. The antifungal activity of the essential oils was tested against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis, the causal agent of the fungal vascular wilt of date palm. The GC/MS analysis allowed the identification of forty-two chemical components in the essential oil samples. The results of the antifungal tests showed an inhibitory effect from the concentrations of 1.8 and 2 μl/ml. The fungicidal concentration corresponds to 10 μl/ml. In order to validate the results of the antifungal activity of the studied essential oils, a bioinformatics simulation was performed to compare the influence of the chemical composition of the oils on the antifungal activity.