Salvia
is a plant genus widely used in folk medicine in
the Mediterranean area since antiquity. A large number of
Salvia essential oils have been reported against diverse
microorganisms. In the current study, chemical composition
of essential oils from leaves and flowers of
Salvia algeriensis
(Desf.) was determined using gas chromatography-electron
impact mass spectrometry (GC-EIMS) as well as their
antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi
Alternaria solani
and
Fusarium oxysporum
exploring disk method. The
GC-EIMS analysis identified 59 compounds (84.8%) in the
essential oil obtained from leaves of S. algeriensis. Its major
constituents were benzaldehyde (9.7%), eugenol (8.7%) and
phenylethyl alcohol (8.4%). In flowers oil, 34 compounds
(92.8%) were detected. The main ones were viridiflorol
(71.1%) and globulol (8.6%). The essential oil obtained
from leaves exhibited the highest antifungal activity, where
the effective dose inhibiting 50% of mycelial fungal (ED
50)
against
A. solani was 0.90 μL mL
-1 with minimum inhibitory
concentration (MIC) equal to 2 μL mL
-1, whereas the ED
50
and MIC in
F. oxysporum culture was 1.84 μL mL
-1 and 3
μL mL
-1 respectively. The mycelial inhibition by flowers
oil varies from 1.77 μL mL
-1 (ED
50) with
A. solani culture
(MIC 6.5 μL mL
-1) to the lowest effect recorded (ED
50 3.00
μL mL
-1 and MIC 9.33 μL mL
-1) against
F. oxysporum. To
our best knowledge, this is the first report on
S. algeriensis,
their leaves oil can constitute an alternative biocontrol
against phytopathogenic fungi commonly controlled by
chemical fungicides.
