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Ocimum basilicum L. essential oil cultivated in Iran: chemical composition and antifungal activity against three Phytophthora species

Synthetic fungicides have effectively controlled plant diseases for a number of years, but increasing concern over environmental effects of the fungicides currently used has highlighted the need for the development of alternative types of crop protection methods, either with or without the reduced use of conventional fungicides. Research focused on plant-derived fungicides and their possible application in agriculture is being intensified as these are having enormous potential to inspire and influence modern agro-chemical research. In this study, we studied the effectiveness of essential oil isolated from Ocimum basilicum L. on the mycelium growth of three species of Phytophthora including P. capsici, P. drechsleri and P. melonis. The fresh leaves of O. basilicum that were subjected to hydro-distillation through Clevenger’s apparatus and chemical composition of extracted essential oil was analysed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Borneol (60.06%), β-ocimene (10.51%), caryophyllen oxide (3.98%) and fenchone (3.07%) were identified as the main components. The rate of growth inhibition was measured after placing 7 days active mycelial plugs of each fungus on Petri dishes containing CMA amended with specific concentration of essential oils and incubated at 25 ± 2 °C. In-vitro antifungal activity showed that O. basilicum essential oil has significant growth inhibitory effect on tested isolates. The increasing doses of O. basilicum essential oil caused a significant increase in the rate of mycelia growth inhibition when the Phytophthora species were exposed to this oil. Since growth inhibition of studied essential oil was evident in this study, they have the potential to control Phytophthora species and could be considered for developing new fungicides.