Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils, thymus vulgaris L. and Mentha L. pulegium Against the Major Post Harvest Diseases of Citrus in Morocco

S. Louhibi, S. Amiri, L. Elghadraoui

Abstract: Post-harvest diseases, caused by Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum, lead to considerable losses of citrus fruits. Several research studies have focused on biological properties and antimicrobial activity of essential oils (EO) extracted from the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP). The main objective of this paper is to study the antifungal effects of two essential oils of the family Lamiaceae (Thymus vulgaris and Mentha pulegium) on the major post harvest disease of citrus. The chemical compositions of EO were analyzed using a gas chromatography / mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed that EO of T. vulgaris was characterized by the presence of Thymol (41.39 -) Gamma terpinene (22.25-) and p-cymene (15.59 %) as the main chemical components. The EO of M. pulegium is formed mainly by Pulegone (78.98 -). The in vitro antifungal activity against both of P. digitatum and P. italicum was evaluated using the method of aromatogram. The results revealed that EO of M. pulegium is most active against both fungi.

Keywords: Citrus, post harvest, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum, antifungal activity, Thymus vulgaris, Mentha pulegium, in vitro