Effect of five essential oils on zearalenon production and growth of Fusarium graminearum

Zearalenone is an estrogenic mycotoxin that causes vulvovaginitis and estrogenic responses and cancer which produces by Fusarium species specially Fusarium graminearum Schwabe. The antifungal effects of Thymus vulgaris, Satureja hortensis, Anethum grareolens, Mentha sativa and Capsicum annum essential oils were studied on the growth of Fusarium graminearum and zearalenone production. The essential oils were added to PDA medium at the concentrations of 25 to 250 with interval 25 μl/100 ml and at the concentrations of 10 to 80 with interval 10 and 100 to 200 with interval 25 μl/100 ml to PDB medium and one treatment as the control including Fusarium graminearum isolate without essential oil. The radial growth rate of the Fusarium graminearum isolate of each PDA medium treatment and the dried weight of its mycellial mass in each PDB medium were measured after incubation for seven days at 25°C. Zearalenone production of Fusarium graminearum isolate treated with Thymus vulgaris, Satureja hortensis, Anethum grareolens, Mentha sativa and Capsicum annum essential oils at the concentrations of 80,150,200,200 and 5000μl/100 ml PDB medium including the control treatment growing Fusarium graminearum without any essential oil were evaluated using HPLC. The experiments were done two times in three replicates. The most inhibitory effects of essential oils on the mycellial mass weights in PDB media were obtained at the concentrations 80, 150, 200, 200μl/100 ml of Thymus vulgaris, Satureja hortensis, Anethum grareolens and Mentha sativa treatments respectively which caused absolute mycelial growth inhibition of Fusarium graminearum in compare with the dried weight of mycelia mass of the control treatment (0.4g). Thymus vulgaris, Satureja hortensis, Anethum grareolens, Mentha sativa and Capsicum annum at the concentrations of 80, 150, 200 and 200μl/100 ml reduced zearalenone production 88%,87%,91%,89% and 93% respectively.