Inhibitory effect of seven Allium plants upon three Aspergillus species

Antifungal activity and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) of extracts of garlic, bakeri garlic, Chinese leek, Chinese chive, scallion, onion bulb . and shallot bulb against Aspergillus niger, A. flavus and A. fumigatus we re examined. These Allium plants possessed antifungal activity, with garlic showing the lowest MFC. With the exception of scallion, the inhibitory eff ect of Allium plants against three Aspergillus species decreased with incre asing incubation and heating temperature (P < 0.05). Acetic acid treatments of the extracts increased the inhibitory effect for all plants against thr ee fungi (P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in this effect among the three pH (2, 4, 6) treatments (P > 0.05) investigated. Acetic ac id, at pH = 4, plus heat treatments of the extracts resulted in a greater i nhibitory effect for all Allium plants against the three fungi than heat tr eatment alone (P < 0.05). Treatments of the extracts with NaCl, at concentr ations of 0.2 and 0.4 M, did not affect the inhibitory effect of the plant extracts. The combination of acetic acid plus Allium plants was indicated t o be an effective way to inhibit fungal growth. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B N. All rights reserved.