Determination of antioxidant activity, and antifungal effect of Ferula persica L hydroalcoholic extract on some fungal strains causing strawberry and grape fruits rot “in vitro”

In this study, the hydroalcoholic extract of Ferula persica was extracted based on soaking method, and then the content of total phenols, total flavonoids, free radical scavenging activity (based on DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging methods) and antifungal effect (based on antimicrobial methods of disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentrations, and minimum fungicidal concentrations) were evaluated against fungi species causing strawberry and grape fruits rot (Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, and Rhizopus stolonifer). The results of this study showed that the hydroalcoholic extract of Ferula persica contained 101.38 mg GAE/g total phenols and 37.41 mg QE/g total flavonoids. In addition, the antioxidant activity of hydroalcoholic extract based on the percentage of inhibition of DPPH and ABTS free radicals was 68.59 and 63.32%, respectively. Findings of antifungal activity based on disk diffusion agar and well diffusion agar tests showed that the antifungal effect of the extract was dependent on its concentration and increasing the concentration caused a significant increase in the diameter of the growth inhibition zone. Rhizopus stolonifer and Aspergillus niger were the most resistant and sensitive fungal strains to the hydroalcoholic extract, respectively, and the minimum lethal concentrations for these two strains were 256 and 64 mg/ml, respectively. Therefore, Ferula persica hydroalcoholic extract can be used as a natural preservative to increase the shelf life of horticultural products.