The potential of Origanum vulgare L. (Lamiaceae) essential oil in inhibiting the growth of some food-related Aspergillus species

• Autor(a) principal: Carmo,Egberto Santos
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Lima,Edeltrudes de Oliveira, Souza,Evandro Leite de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1517-83822008000200030
• topic: O. vulgare; essential oil; Aspergillus

Origanum vulgare L. (Lamiaceae) has been currently known for their interesting antimicrobial activity being regarded as alternative antimicrobial for use is food conservation systems. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of O. vulgare essential oil in inhibiting the growth of some food-related Aspergillus species (A. flavus, A. parasiticus, A. terreus, A. ochraceus, A. fumigatus and A. niger). The essential oil revealed a strong anti-Aspergillus property providing an inhibition of all assayed mould strains. MIC values were between 80 and 20 µL/mL being found a MIC50 of 40 µL/mL. The essential oil at concentration of 80 and 40 µL/mL provided a fungicidal effect on A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. niger noted by a total inhibition of the radial mycelial growth along 14 days of interaction. In addition, the essential oil was able to inhibit the mould spores germination when assayed at concentrations of 80 and 40 µL/mL. Our results showed the interesting anti-Aspergillus activity of O. vulgare essential oil supporting their possible use as anti-mould compound in food conservation.