Comparison of the composition and fungicidal activity of essential oils from fennel fruits cultivated in Poland and Egypt

• Main Authors: Wodnicka Alicja, Huzar Elżbieta, Dzięcioł Małgorzata, Krawczyk Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2019-06-01
• Series: Polish Journal of Chemical Technology
• Subjects: fennel essential oil; foeniculum vulgare mill.; fungicidal activity; trans-anethole; estragole
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjct-2019-0018

The yield, composition and fungicidal activity of essential oils obtained from fennel fruits cultivated in Poland (FEOPOL) and Egypt (FEO-EG) were compared. The influence of the duration of hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus on the essential oil yield was studied. The composition of the fennel essential oils was determined by GC-MS method. Studies have shown that FEO-POL and FEO-EG are two distinct chemotypes, which differ in yield and composition. The fennel fruits cultivated in Poland contained 4.14% of essential oil with trans-anethole as a main component. The plant material from Egypt was characterised by low content of essential oil (1.32%) with a predominant share of estragole. The fungicidal activity was tested in vitro against ten species of pathogenic fungi. The best result for FEO-POL was achieved against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani and Botrytis cinerea. Antifungal activity of FEO-EG against tested fungi was weak or none.