Chemical composition of essential oils of three Mentha species and their antifungal activity against selected phytopathogenic and post-harvest fungi

Abstract

The postharvest life of most fruit, vegetables and cereals is limited by fungal proliferation. The chemical composition of Mentha piperita, M. spicata and M. suaveolens essential oils (EO), and the antifungal activity against four pathogenic and post-harvest fungi isolated from food, were herein investigated to evaluate their potential as natural food preservatives. The EO were obtained by hydrodistillation of aerial parts leaves, stems and inflorescences (except for peppermint oil, which was purchased in a specialized store) and submitted to GC-MS and GC-FID analysis. Regarding the EO composition, carvone (41.1%) and limonene (14.1%) were the major compounds in M. spicata, menthol (47.0%) and menthone (23.1%), as well as other menthol derivatives (neomenthol -3.6%- and menthofurane -3.7%-) in M. piperita, and piperitone oxide (40.2%) and piperitenone oxide (31.4%) in M. suaveolens. Botryotinia fuckeliana was the most sensitive fungus. The three studied EO inhibited growth by 92–100%. The highest dose of M. suaveolens EO, 400 µg/mL, produced 100% MGI in all the studied fungi, except Fusarium oxysporum with 94.21%. The M. suaveolens EO can be considered to develop a low-risk enviro-friendly botanical biofungicide.