COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANTIFUNGAL EFFECT OF NATURAL EXTRACTS AND ESSENTIAL OILS OF OCIMUM BASILICUM ON SELECTED ARTEFACTS

The artefacts, part of our cultural heritage, are exposed to fungal attack. The main cause of deterioration is the combination of atmospheric pollutants and the fungi present on the artefacts, depending on nature of the support material. Various factors (physical, chemical or biological) can interact with the artefacts leading to changes in its composition and/or characteristics. Among all, paper artefacts are more exposed to fungal attack, because of their chemical composition. This study describes the efficiency of using some natural extracts (hydro-alcoholic and water extracts) obtained from Roumanian native plants with antifungal effect, compared with antifungal effect of some essential oils obtained from the same plants. The extracts (hydro-alcoholic and water extract) and essential oils obtained from plants can act as safe, efficient and not expensive fungicides for the antifungal treatment. For the antifungal studies, we have focused on fungal species (environmental moulds) developed on paper artefacts; the fungal species were previously identified by the use of optical and electronic microscopy; the analytical characterization of the essential oils was made using gas-chromatography mass spectrometry.