Efficacy of extract and essential oil of Lantana indica Roxb. against food contaminating moulds and aflatoxin B1 production

Abstract

The study investigates the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic efficacy of Lantana indica against Aspergillus flavus, a key storage fungus. The leaf essential oil of L. indica was found more active than leaf extracts. The oil absolutely inhibited the growth of A. flavus at 1.5 mg mL-1 while ethanolic and chloroform extracts of leaf show MIC at 7.5 and 10.0 mg mL -1 concentrations respectively. The oil also showed pronounced antiaflatoxigenic efficacy and completely inhibited the aflatoxin B1 production at 0.75 mg mL-1. The ethanolic and chloroformic extracts inhibited the aflatoxin B1 production at 5.0 and 7.5 mg mL -1, respectively while other extracts exhibited poor efficacy. The L. indica essential oil exhibited broad fungitoxic spectrum against twelve different storage moulds. The present findings may recommend the L. indica essential oil and its bioactive leaf extracts as natural preservative would of immense significance in view of the environmental and toxicological implications by indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides. © Institute of Food Science and Technology.