Bioactivity of essential oil from fresh leaves of Lantana camara against fungi isolated from stored cowpea in southern Benin

Cowpea is one of the most important foods in the diet of the population, especially in rural areas. Unfortunately, it is attacks by insects and a large number of microorganisms, especially fungi. In order to promote this legume, the present work aimed to develop an inexpensive and environmentally friendly method to reduce fungi contamination, by using essential oil of Lantana camara in the storage of cowpea. Microbiological analyzes were performed on cowpea seeds using the "Direct plating" method for the isolation of fungi. Antifungal tests were performed by the method of diffusion in a solid medium to determine the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration of essential oil. Results obtained indicated that Aspergillus and Penicillium were the most genera of fungi isolated from cowpea in post-harvest in southern Benin. The main species were, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus tamarii, Aspergillus ustus and Penicillium roqueforti. Antifungal tests showed that at a concentration of 20μL/mL, the essential oil was fongiostatique on four strains studied. From these results, the essential oil of Lantana camara could be used as preservation agent to protect cowpea in post-harvest in Benin