Antifungal activity of Ocotea odorifera (Vell.) Rowher, Ocotea puberula (Rich.) Nees and Cinnamodendron dinisii Schwanke essential oils

Abstract

Biocompounds are promising tools with the potential to control pathogenic microorganisms. The medicinal plant species Ocotea odorifera, Ocotea puberula and Cinnamodendron dinisii, distributed along Brazilian biomes, are sources of chemical compounds of biological interest. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of the essential oils of O. odorifera, O. puberula and C. dinisii essential oils upon the mycotoxin producers Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium crustosum. The essential oils where characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer (CG-MS). The majority compounds identified were: safrol (39.23%) and camphor (31.54%) in O. odorifera, Beta-caryophyllene (25.01%) and spathulenol (17.74%) in O. puberula, and bicyclogermacrene (23.19%) and spathulenol (20.21%) in C. dinisii. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of antifungal activity considered diameters higher than 10 mm after 72 h of incubation at 30 {o}C. A. alternata presented higher resistance to O. odorifera and C. dinisii oils. The inhibitory effect of O. odorifera on A. flavus showed stabilization at oils concentrations between 50% and 80%, increasing at 90% and 100% (pure oil) treatments. We observed that the essential oils of O. odorifera and C. dinisii have potential in the control of the analyzed fungi species. The essential oil of O. odorifera presented a better activity in all the assays, which can be related to the presence of safrole and phenylpropenes, compounds with known antifungal activity.