Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Essential Oil of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf. Against Three Phytophthora Species

Many fungi including Phytophthora species cause severe pre- and post-harvest damage to agricultural crops. Research focused on plant-derived fungicides and their possible application in agriculture is being intensified as these are having enormous potential to inspire and influence modern agro-chemical research. In this study, we survey the effectiveness of essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf. on the mycelium growth of three species of Phytophthora including P. capsici , P. drechsleri and P. melonis . The essential oil was extracted from fresh leaves of C. citratus that were subjected to hydro-distillation through Clevenger's apparatus and its chemical composition was analyzed with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). α- citral (39.16%), Z- citral (30.95%), limonene (5.83%), and caryophyllene (3.44%) were identified as main components. The rate of growth inhibition were measured after placing 7 days active mycelial plugs of each fungus on petri dishes containing CMA amended with specific concentration of essential oil and incubated at 25 ± 2 o C. Since growth inhibition of studied essential oil was evident in this study, they have potential to control of Phytophthora species and could be considered for developing new fungicides.