Composition and antifungal activity of essential oils from Artemisia princeps and Cinnamomum camphora.

The chemical compositions of the essential oils extracted from leaves of Artemisia princeps and seeds of Cinnamomum camphora were determined by GC and GC/MS. Twenty constituents, constituting 82.82% of the total oil of A. princeps, were characterized, and twenty-nine, comprising 95.88% of that of C. camphora were identified. Bornane (12.16%), Camazulene (11.82%) and (1, 2, 3, 6)-3-methyl-6-(1-methylethyl)-1,2-cyclohexanediol (10.06%) were found to be the major components in the oil from A. princeps, and linalool (82.70%) in that from C. camphora. The two individual oils and their mixture (1:1) showed similar antifungal activity. Mycelial growth of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici was inhibited 100% at 50 gml -1 . This observation indicated that the essential oils from the study species could be valuable for the development of a new natural fungicide to control soil-borne take-all disease of wheat by seed treatment.