Efficacy of aqueous medicinal plant extracts on growth and citrinin production by Penicillium citrinum isolated from rice grains

In this study we investigated the efficacy of aqueous medicinal plant extracts obtained from Andrographis paniculata, Cymbopogon citratus, Eurycoma longifolia, Kaempferia galanga and Orthosiphon aristatus on growth and citrinin production by Penicillium citrinum isolated from rice grains under in vitro (liquid media) conditions. All medicinal plant extracts effectively reduced the growth of P. citrinum ranging from 30.1 to 88% and subsequent citrinin production ranging from 42.3 to 91.3% at 10 mg/ml concentration. Of the plant extracts tested, C. citratus effectively reduced the growth (88%) and citrinin production (91.3%) by P. citrinum at 10 mg/ml concentration followed by A. paniculata (76% and 83.69%). Our results showed that these plant extracts can be potentially used to reduce citrinin contamination in rice grains and probably in other food grains.