EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF FREE AND ENCAPSULATED CLOVE OIL IN β-CYCLODEXTRIN AGAINST AN ALGERIAN ISOLATE OF FUSARIUM OXYSPORUM F. SP RADICIS LYCOPERSICI

Essential oils play an important role in the fight against plant pathogens. Clove essential oils are widely used as antifungal, antibacterial, insecticidal, and antioxidant agents. To increase its solubility and reduce its volatility, clove essential oil was encapsulated in (3 cyclodextrin, using the freeze-drying method at a weight ratio of 16:84. The composition of clove essential oil was evaluated using gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-SM). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed the presence of 11 components, representing 98.7% of the essential oils. The major component was eugenol (79.7%), followed by eugenyl acetate (16.3%). The antifungal activity of clove essential oil and its inclusion complex with (3 cyclodextrin was tested against an Algerian isolate of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp radicis lycopersici (FORL) and a reference strain, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp lycopersici race 2 (FOL) in liquid medium. The obtained results demonstrated that the antifungal efficiency of clove essential oil against FORL and FOL enhanced after encapsulation in (3-cyclodextrin. A significant difference between the inhibition rates obtained with free clove essential oil and those obtained with the inclusion complex ((3-cyclodextrin-clove oil) was observed for the concentrations studied.