antifungal activities of some medicinal plant essential oils against fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici

tomato fusarium wilt, caused by fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (fol), is one of the most important diseases of tomato in iran and in the whole world. recently, in order to reduce hazardous effects of chemical pesticides, these days, attempts have been made to use safer methods for controlling plant pathogens. therefore, using antifungal plant materials has been highly regarded during past several decades. in the current study, essential oils of ten medicinal plants were obtained by hydro- distillation method. antifungal effects of 50, 100 and 200 µl of essential oils were studied on mycelia growth of (fol) using a paper disc method on agar medium. treated samples were kept at 26 ºc and colony diameter was measured and analyzed after 7 days. experimental treatments (50, 100 and 200 µl of ten essential oils) were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. the results of in vitro trials indicated that different concentrations had no significant effects on fungus growth; however, the essential oils of savory and eucalyptus showed the strongest inhibitory effects (89.5% and 30.7%, respectively) and the essential oils of common rue and felty germander showed the less antifungal activity against fol in comparison to n-hexane control (p≤0.05). however, essential oil of savory had the most inhibitory effects in all three concentrations.