Chemical composition and antifungal activity of the essential oil of cotinus coggygria from Marche region (Italy)

Abstract

The present study reports the results of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analyses of the essential oil from flowering aerial parts of Cotinus coggygria Scoop. (Anacardiaceae), as well as its in vitro antifungal activity against nine plant pathogenic fungi. Moreover, the essential oil was evaluated for its antifungal activity using the agar dilution method, and also MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) and MFCs (minimum fungicidal concentrations) were determined. The major compounds identified by GC-MS were limonene (49.2%), (Z)-β-ocimene (13.6%), α-pinene (8.8%) and (E)-β-ocimene (5.9%). The oil showed in vitro antifungal activity against some species of the Fusarium genus, Botrytis cinerea, and Alternaria solani. Our study indicates that the oil of C. coggygria could be used as a control agent for plant pathogenic fungi in natural formulations.