In vitro antifungal effects of Fumaria vaillantii Loisel. essential oil on Aspergillus flavus

In order to identify the chemical composition of essential oil of Fumaria vaillantii, the leaves with young branches of this plant which grows in a village in Kerman Province at full flowering stage in May 2012 were collected. The sample was cleaned and then dried in the shade, and essential oil hydrodistillation method was performed. The main oil content from the plant of F. vaillantii was 0.25% (v/w) and that essential oil was analyzed by capillary gas chromatography (GC) using flame ionization (FID) and capillary gas chromatography coupled mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for detection. Eighteen compounds were identified in the essential oil of F. vaillantii that included 99.62% of the total oil. The major components were Parfumidine (18.94%), Fumaricine (16.30%), Thymol (12.45%) and Fumaritine (10.78%). The study of the antifungal effects of the oil sample was carried against strain of Aspergillus flavus (PTCC=5004) by disc diffusion method via average inhibition zone. The results show that the essential oil from fumaria plant at 1 and 1/2 oil dilutions exhibited strong antifungal activity than gentamycin antibiotic on A. flavus and synthetic thymol exhibited good inhibition at 10% dilution. Large percentage antifungal activities of fumaria oil are related with thymol as a natural monoterpene phenol is the main compound.   Key words: Fumaria vaillantii Loisel. essential oil, Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxin, thymol.