Antifungal effect of Satureja khuzestanica essential oil on Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Rhizopus stolonifer causing strawberry’s rot and mold

In this study, the essential oil of medicinal plant Satureja khuzestanica was extracted using hydrodistillation method and its total phenol and flavonoids contents, antioxidant property (based on DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging and beta-carotene/linoleic acid assays) and antifungal activity against fungi species causing strawberry rot and mold (Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Rhizopus stolonifer) were investigated. Based on the results of the total phenol and flavonoid contents of the essential oil were 87.23 mg GAE/g and 69.33 mg QE/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the essential oil, based on the DPPH radical scavenging, ABTS radical scavenging, and beta-carotene/linoleic acid assays, were 63.29, 58.30 and 51.19%, respectively. The antifungal activity of the essential oil (based on disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, and minimum inhibitory/fungicidal concentration) showed that B. cinerea was the most resistant and A. niger was the most sensitive fungal species to the essential oil. The minimum inhibitory concentration for Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Rhizopus stolonifer was 50, 100 and 50 mg/mL, respectively. The minimum fungicidal concentration for Aspergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, and Rhizopus stolonifer was 200, 400 and 200 mg/mL, respectively.