Appraisal of antifungal activity of Aloe vera

In vitro studies were carried out to evaluate the antifungal activity of Aloe vera shoot extract in aqueous (polar) and organic (non-polar) solvents against few pathogenic species of genus Alternaria viz., A. alternata, A. citri and A. tenuissima. The assessments revealed that Aloe vera contained substantial antimicrobial efficacy. The shoot aqueous extracts caused significant inhibition in growth and biomass production of the three tested fungi. In case of n-hexane extraction the inhibitory effect was found to be variable with the applied concentration.