Abstract

ANTIFUNGAL EVALUATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS TO CONTROL THE GROWTH OF MOULD FUNGI ON BUILDING MATERIAL

Mamta Chauhan*, Padma Singh

Abstract

To control the growth of building biodeteriorating fungi require the useof botanical fungicides which can be derived from medicinal plantsinstead of chemical fungicides. These chemical fungicides are mainlycompound of copper, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The presentstudy was designed to evaluate the antifungal activity of plant extractsof Emblica officinalis and Tagetes erecta against Aspergillus flavusand Penicillium chrysogenum isolated from various sites of buildingsin Haridwar. The antifungal activity was assayed by passion foodmethod. In case of T. erecta methanol (extract) showed maximumactivity comparatively ethanol extract of T. erecta whereas ethanolextract of E. officinalis showed highest activity in comparison of methanol. Essential oil of E.officinalis gave best activity then essential oil of T. erecta against A. flavus and P.chrysogenum. Maximum dry mycelium weight of A. flavus and P. chrysogenum was recordedafter 20 and 25 days respectively at incubation of 28°C.

Keywords: Building fungi, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Possion food method, Dry mycelium weight.