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The essential oil of Mansoa alliacea (Lam.) A.H. Gentry was characterized on the basis of its gas chromatographymass spectrometry analysis, physico-chemical, antioxidant, and antifungal properties. M. alliacea essential oil (MAEO) had a complex mixture of eight major and minor components. The main constituents were disulfide, di-2-propenyl (cas) 1, 2-bis(allyl) disulfane (66.90%), trisulfide, di-2-propenyl (23.81%), and 1-Propene, 3,3'-thiobis- (cas) 4-thia-1,6-heptadiene (4.44%). The optical rotation and refractive index of oil were found to be 4.083 and 1.337, respectively. The oil showed potent antioxidant activity in 2, 2'- diphenyl-1-picrylhydazyl, β-carotene, and ABTS assays. Oil showed fungitoxic activity against nine fungal species. The investigations confirm that MAEO has promising potential to be used as a biopesticide and as a preservative agent in food and pharmaceutical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oils isolated from 35 aromatic plants of Gorakhpur Division, India, were screened at 0.36 μl ml-1 against four dominant fungi Aspergillus flavus Link, A. niger van Tieghem, A. ochraceus Wilhelm and A. terreus Thom found on stored pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan Linn.) seeds. Chenopodium ambrosioides Linn. and Citrus aurantium Linn. oils exhibited strong antimycotic activity (100% mycelial inhibition). The minimum inhibitory concentration of C. ambrosioides oil was less (0.07 μl ml-1) than that of C. aurantium oil, against all the test fungi. Both the oils were fungicidal at higher doses (1.71-2.78 μl ml-1). C. ambrosioides oil exhibited broad fungitoxic spectrum against 16 other storage fungi of pigeon pea seeds. The oil remained effective with increased inoculum load, and physical factors had no adverse effect on its toxicity. C. ambrosioides oil proved superior to aluminium phosphide and ethylene dibromide, synthetic fumigants, at 0.29 μl ml-1 and significantly protected 1 kg of pigeon pea seeds from microbial attack for up to 6 months. Chenopodium oil can be recommended as an effective substitute of synthetic fumigants for storage of pigeon pea seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "New Report on the Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil From Leaves of Clausena Pentaphylla From India," by Abhay K. Pandey, Pooja Singh, Manindra Mohan and N. N. Tripathi is presented.

This study was designed to examine the in vitro antibacterial activities of the essential oils extracted from 53 aromatic plants of the Gorakhpur Division (UP, INDIA) for the control of two phytopathogenic bacteria, namely Erwinia herbicola and Pseudomonas putida, which cause several post-harvest diseases in fruits and vegetables. Out of the 53 oils screened, 8 oils, i.e., Chenopodium ambrosioides, Citrus aurantium, Clausena pentaphylla, Hyptis suaveolens, Lippia alba, Mentha arvensis, Ocimum sanctum and Vitex negundo, completely inhibited the growth of the test bacteria. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of C. ambrosioides oil were lower for E. herbicola (0.25 and 2.0 µl ml-1) and P. putida (0.12 and 1.0 µl ml-1), respectively, than those of the other 7 oils, as well as than those of agromycin and streptomycin, the drugs used in the current study. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC--mass spectroscopy (GC--MS) analysis of the Chenopodium oil revealed the presence of 125 major and minor compounds, of which 14 compounds were recognized. The findings led to the conclusion that Chenopodium oil may be regarded as a safe antibacterial agent for the management of post-harvest diseases of fruits and vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]