Evaluation of total phenols and flavonoids, antioxidant power, and antimicrobial activity of Levisticum officinale Koch essential oil against some spoilage fungi causing apple and orange rot

Economic losses can occur due to the growth of fungi on foods that lead to food spoilage and plant diseases. Fruits and vegetables are often exposed to microbial activity, caused by pathogenic fungi, during post-harvest storage. Diseases of food origin are a growing public health problem. Thus, food safety has become a major public concern as microbial contamination increases the risk of foodborne illnesses and shortens the shelf life of foods. Infection with fungi such as Aspergillus, Rhizopus, and Penicillium species is considered as the primary cause of rapid spoilage of fresh produce, which reduces their quality and shelf life. Synthetic fungicides have been applied to solve this problem for many years. Nonetheless, the adverse effects of synthetic chemicals on human health and the emergence of fungicide-resistant strains have motivated the scientists and food industries to find out safe preservatives to control postharvest rot/diseases. On this point, natural antimicrobial agents such as plant extracts and essential oils are gaining more and more interest. In this study, we used Levisticum officinale Koch essential oil, which its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity has been reported in literatures. 

L. officinale Koch essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation method and its total phenol content, total flavonoids, antioxidant activity (based on DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging and β-carotene bleaching tests) and its antifungal effect against fungi causing apple and orange rotting (Alternaria alternata, Penicillium expansum, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum, and Botrytis cinerea) were examined according to antimicrobial tests of disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum fungicidal concentration. 

L. officinale Koch essential oil contained 61.27 ± 0.34 mg GAE/g and 20.14 ± 0.21 mg QE/g total phenol and flavonoids, respectively. Its antioxidant activity, based on DPPH free radical scavenging, ABTS free radical scavenging, and β-carotene bleaching inhibition were 69.72 ± 0.65%, 78.54 ± 0.3% and 57.50 ± 0.41%, respectively. L. officinale Koch essential oil was effective against all fungal species and the highest susceptibility was observed for Penicillium expansum. According to the results, L. officinale Koch essential oil can be used as a natural antifungal agent to prevent post-harvest diseases of fruits and vegetables.