Essential oil and antifungal therapy

Abstract

Essential oils are complex mixtures of odorous principles stored in different parts of special plants that play an important role in plant defense mechanisms against pathogenic fungi. They are composed of different chemical compounds which have various biological activities and therapeutic effects that can be used in different industries as well as control molds and various fungi such as food-borne and phytopathogenic fungi which cause different postharvest diseases and animal and human disorders. The antifungal activity of essential oil is associated with phytochemical components. In addition to this, percentage inhibition of mycelia growth depends on some other factors such as the antifungal activity method, the day of observation, oil concentration, and examined fungal species. In order to reduce the hazardous effects of synthetic fungicidal products, the increasing interest in the possible application of essential oils for pathogen management has induced to investigate new sources of biologically active natural products in antifungal therapy.