Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the antioxidant and antifungal activities of the essential oils from five aromatic herbs, including Thymus vulgaris, Chamaemelum nobile, Ziziphora clinopodioides, Zingiber officinale and Cuminum cyminum, against different Aspergillus and Penicillium species. METHODS: The oils were subjected to screening for their possible antioxidant activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The susceptibility test for the oils was carried out in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) using microdilution method. RESULTS: The values of the essential oils in DPPH assay were as follows: T. vulgaris (450.11+/-5.23 mug/mL), Ch. nobile (602.73+/-4.8 mug/mL), Ziz. clinopodioides (1238.82+/-9.3 mug/mL), Cu. cyminum (1255.52+/-8.92 mug/mL) and Zin. officinale (5595.06+/-8.24 mug/mL). Our findings also indicated a strong activity against tested fungi for the oil of T. vulgaris (1250 mug/mL), followed by Cu. cyminum (1416 mug/mL), Zin. officinale (1833 mug/mL), Ziz. clinopodioides (2166 mug/mL) and Ch. nobile (3750 mug/mL). This study confirmed the excellent antifungal and antioxidant properties of the essential oils, especially T. vulgaris, against foodborne pathogenic fungi. CONCLUSION: Owing to their strong protective features, these oils could be used in ethno-medicine as preventers of lipid peroxidation and cellular damage, and in food industries as preservers of foodstuffs against spoilage fungi. Also, they could be the candidates to develop new antibiotics and disinfectants to control infective agents.