Effect of essential oils in control of some cereal fungal pathogens

Most of plant diseases cause by fungi which some of them produce a wide range of mycotoxins and negatively affect human and animal health. Disease management such as farm health and crop rotation are not acceptable to farmers and mainly synthetic fungicides are the principal measure. But fungicide application leads in accumulation of toxic residues, water and environment pollution and development of resistance to antifungal agents. To overcome some of these issues, using natural compounds or their combination with commercial has been investigated to increase effectiveness. In this study the effect of essential oils of Mentha pulegium, Pelargonium graveolens, and Artemisia herba-alba on the growth of four species F. graminearum, F. sporotrichioides, F. langsethiae and Blumeria graminis was investigated in in vitro condition. The results showed all three Fusarium species were susceptible to Mentha pulegium and Pelargonium graveolens oils in concentrations equal or higher than and 0.0125 % and 0.025%, respectively. Complete mycelium growth inhibition varied depending to fangal species and oil concentration. The evaluation of the effect of Artemisia herba-alba oil showed the variation in mycelia form and the number of conidia of Blumeria graminis. The combined application of Folicur (9.5 ppm) and TTO (0.1%) resulted in 32% mycelial growth inhibition of Fusarium graminearum. Concidering the positive results obtained, the investigation of in planta antifungal activities in greenhouse and farm are recommended.