Effectiveness of the Influence of Selected Essential Oils on the Growth of Parasitic Isolated from Wheat Kernels from Central Europe.

The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of selected seven commercial essential oils (EsO) (grapefruit, lemongrass, tea tree (TTO), thyme, verbena, cajeput, and ) on isolates of common Central European parasitic fungal species of obtained from infected wheat kernels, and to evaluate the oils as potential natural fungicides. The study was conducted in 2 stages. At each stage, the fungicidal activity of EsO (with concentrations of 0.025; 0.05; 0.125; 0.25; 0.50; 1.0, and 2.0%) against spp. was evaluated using the disc plate method and zones of growth inhibition were measured. At the first stage, the fungistatic activity of EsO was evaluated against four species of from the Polish population ( FAPL, FCPL, FGPL and FOPL). The correlation coefficient between the mycelial growth rate index (T) and the fungistatic activity (FA) was calculated. At the second stage, on the basis of the mycelium growth rate index, the effectiveness of the EsO in limiting the development of isolates from the German population ( FC1D, FC2D, FG1D, FG2D and FP0D) was assessed. The first and second stage results presented as a growth rate index were then used to indicate essential oils (as potential natural fungicides) effectively limiting the development of various common Central European parasitic species spp. Finally, the sensitivity of four isolates from the Polish population and five isolates from the German population was compared. The data were compiled in STATISTICA 13.0 (StatSoft, Inc, CA, USA) at the significance level of 0.05. isolates from the German population were generally more sensitive than those from the Polish population. The sensitivity of individual species varied. Their vulnerability, regardless of the isolate origin, in order from the most to the least sensitive, is as follows: , , , and . The strongest fungicidal activity, similar to Funaben T, showed thyme oil (regardless of the concentration). Performance of citral oils (lemongrass and ) was similar but at a concentration above 0.025%.