Ocimum Gratissimum Lab Report

Antifungal activities of Ocimum gratissimum
The O. gratissimum essential oils have given good responses when tested for their antifungicidal activities against a wide range of fungal pathogens in plants and animal. O.gratissimum with five chemotypes is very common folk medicine in tropics and among these ethyl cinnamate is very a common Indian chemotype with antifungal activities (Dubey et al., 2000) Dried or fresh plant samples possess antimycotic properties and have potentiality to treat superficial mycosis in young children and shows a strong anti-dermatophyte activity against infected scalp and hands (Obot et al., 2002). The Transmission and scanning electron and negative staining microscopy study reveals that plant essential oil has an
The agar diffusion study of steam distilled ethanolic extract of aerial parts of the plant shows strong inhibition of plant pathogens, Rhizoctonia sp. Botryosphaeria rhodina and two strains of Alternaria sp. (Alternaria sp. (A1) and Alternaria sp. (A2) - tomato wilt fungi) which was mainly due to presence of fungitoxic phenolic compound eugenol. When this eugenol was further subjected to agar diffusion assay it shows strong efficacy against Alternaria sp. (A1) and Penicillium chrysogenum with MIC value 0.16 and 0.31 mg/disc, respectively (Faria et al., 2006). The plant fraction and essential oil are also effective in inhibiting seed-borne fungi of rice Alternaria padwickii and Bipolaris oryzae and remain active even up to six days of storage (Nguefack et al., 2007). Agar-well diffusion assay to study susceptibility against fungi Cryptococcus neoformans, causing central nervous and lung disorders and Candida albicans causing skin infection in humans and broth microdilution techniques employed for studying the efficacy of volatile oil shows an effective inhibition of fungi with MIC 0.078 and 1.25 mg/ml, respectively (Braga et al., 2007). The effective inhibition of the fungus C. albicans using the plant oil was also justified in other studies. Some studies reported hydro-distilled (Lexa et al., 2007; Matasyoh et al., 2008)) whereas
citrinum and C. sphaerospermum with radial growth between 46.4–59.7% and seed borne mycoflora up to 53.4% respectively (Bankole and Somorin, 2010).Various other investigation observed that the plant oil possessing shelf life enhancer property can act as an antiaflatoxigenic agent against aflatoxin and fungal contamination of spices. It has potentiality to restrict aflatoxin B1(AFB1) formation of A. flavus (Shukla et al., 2011). A study reported that when clove basil oil was evaluated along with two other plant oil fractions of Cymbopogon citratus and Thymus vulgaris shows highest degree of inhibition against Penicillium expansum a mould that causes the rotting of several fruits and vegetables, This study also observed that the fractions of these plant samples enriched with oxygenated terpenes were found more effective compared to their respective essential oils (Nguefack et al.,