Background: In the last years essential oils from different plants were used in the prevention of fungi and mycotoxins accumulation in cereals. The most attractive aspect derived from using of essential oils as seed grains protectants is due to their non-toxicity. This study was focused on assessment the inhibitory effect of some essential oils: Melissa officinalis (O1), Salvia officinalis (O2), Coriandrum sativum (O3), Thymus vulgaris (O4) Mentha piperita (O5) and Cinnamomum zeylanicum (O6) against natural mycoflora and Fusarium mycotoxins production correlated with their antioxidants properties. Results: All essential oils showed inhibitory effect on fungal contamination of wheat seeds. This ability was dose-dependent. The highest inhibitory effect on Fusarium and Aspergillus fungi was recorded after 5 days of treatment. Fungi such as yeast (Pichia, Saccharomyces and Hyphopichia) were predominantly on seeds mycoflora after 22 days. Each treatment had a selective inhibitory effect on frequency of fungus genera. After 5 days of treatment the most fungicidal effect was recorder for O4, followed by O1. In terms of essential oils effect on mycotoxins development, the best control on fumonisins (FUMO) production was recorded for O6. The antioxidant properties of essential oils decreased in order: O4 > O1 > O6 > O5 > O2 > O3. Also, our data suggested that there is a significant negative correlation between antioxidant properties and seed contamination index (SCI), but there was not recorded a good correlation between antioxidant properties and FUMO content. Conclusions: Based on proven antifungal and antimycotoxin effects as well as their antioxidant properties, the essential oils could be recommended as natural preservatives for stored cereals. The highest inhibition of fungal growth was noted after 5 days of treatment and decreased after 22 days.

The current study aimed to investigate the chemical composition and the synergistic potential of two essential oils (EOs), as obtained from Salvia officinalis L. (SEO), and Thymus vulgaris L. (TEO). The antifungal potential was tested in vitro against Fusarium graminearum (Fg 06_17), the herbicidal effect was studied using weed seeds of Amaranthus retroflexus (ARET), Chenopodium album (CALB), Echinochloa crus-galli (EGAL), but also wheat seeds (WS) of the Lovrin variety and tomato seeds Saint-Pierre of the variety. The GC-MS profile highlights that the mains compounds identified in SEO were: caryophyllene (25.364%), camphene (14.139%), eucalyptol (13.902%), and β-pinene (11.230%), while in TEO, the predominant phytochemicals were: γ-terpinene (68.415%) and p-thymol (24.721%). The results indicated that the tested EOs alone as well as in combination have allelopathic effect against investigated seeds, while the synergistic effect of TEO and SEO in terms of fungal growth was demonstrated at a level of 0.06%. Thyme and sage EOs exhibited in vitro anti-proliferative activity on two melanoma cell lines, namely A375 human melanoma and B164A5 mouse melanoma alone, as well as in combination. SEO was most effective in terms of decreasing the cell viability of murine and human melanoma cell lines when compared to TEO.

The current study aimed to investigate ethanolic extracts from the following medicinal plant species cultivated in western Romania: Melissa officinalis L., Rosmarinus officinalis L. (RO) and Salvia officinalis L. (SO). Antioxidant activity, total phenolics content and a profile of the main hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs), including caffeic, ferulic, coumaric and rosmarinic acids, was determined for each plant extract. The in vitro antimicrobial activity against four bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Listeria -, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus), and the effect on cell viability in two melanoma cell lines (B164A5 murine melanoma and A375 human melanoma) was also assessed. The results indicated that total phenolics content was 73.76‑274.73 mg GAE·g‑1 and the antioxidant activity was 2.32‑2.87 mM Fe2+·100 g‑1. There was found a strong positive correlation (R=0.9691) between total phenolics content and the antioxidant activity in the investigated samples. Regarding the HCA profile obtained by high performance liquid chromatography, the results demonstrated that rosmarinic acid represents the main identified compound. The ethanolic extracts of RO and SO exhibited antibacterial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. RO was the most effective in terms of decreasing the cell viability of murine and human melanoma cell lines, while the HCAs did not exhibit any effect on cell viability. These findings suggest that plant extracts from the Lamiaceae family may used in the clinic as natural antibacterial agents.

There is an increasing interest in developing natural methods to replace the current chemicals used for maintaining postharvest quality of citrus fruits. The essential oil antifungal activity of mint (MEO), basil (BEO), and lavender (LEO) acting as the vapor-phases was tested against Penicillium digitatum. The minimum doses with fungistatic and fungicidal effect, in vitro, acting as the vapor-phases, were set up. The minimum fungicidal dose was 300 μL for BEO and 350 μL LEO, while for MEO only minimal dose with fungistatic effect was reached. The IC50 values were calculated and used (v/v) for testing preservation of lemon fruits, in close space enriched in vapor oil. For this purpose, the following two independent in vivo experiments were carried out: experiment 1, inoculated lemons with P. digitatum stored without chemical treatments 7 days, at 22 ± 2 °C, at two concentrations (C1—IC50 equivalent; C2—half of C1); and experiment 2, the non-inoculated lemons kept under the same conditions and concentrations of EO vapor served to evaluate the lemon quality properties. The results showed that antifungal protective effect was provided in the order of LEO-C1 > BEO-C1 > MEO-C1 > BEO-C2 > MEO-C2 > LEO-C2. The quality indicators like weight loss, pH, and firmness were not negatively influenced.

Romania has a wide variety of local landraces and heirloom genotypes. Our study aims to assess the performance of twenty halotolerant tomato landraces, collected from areas with medium and high levels of soil salinity, in terms ofthe accumulation of antioxidant compounds in fruits and to cluster them according to their nutraceutical components. The tomatoes used in the study were harvested once they had attained full ripeness and then analyzed for lycopene (Lyc), ascorbic acid content (AsA), total phenolic content (TPC), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). The results revealed major differences between genotypes in terms of nutraceutical values. According to principal component analysis, the tomato landraces were grouped into five clusters, characterized by different proportions of compounds with antioxidant activity. The high/moderate nutritional values of Lyc, TAC, TPC, and AsA were obtained from varieties taken from local lands with high soil salinity, over 6.5 dS m⁻¹. These findings support the idea that metabolites and secondary antioxidants are involved in the process of stress adaptation, thereby increasing salinity tolerance in tomatoes. Our results show that there are tomato landraces with a tolerance of adaptation to conditions of high soil salinity and provide information on their ability to synthesize molecules with antioxidant functions that protect plants against oxidative damage.

Essential oils (EOs) are a natural source of active compounds with antifungal, antimycotoxigenic, and herbicidal potential, and have been successfully used in organic agriculture, instead of chemical compounds obtained by synthesis, due to their high bioactivity and the absence of toxicity. The aim of this study was to highlight the importance of Coriandrum sativum essential oil (CEO) as a potential source of bioactive constituents and its applications as an antifungal and bioherbicidal agent. The CEO was obtained by steam distillation of coriander seeds and GC-MS technique was used to determine the chemical composition. Furthermore, in vitro tests were used to determine the antifungal potential of CEO on Fusarium graminearum mycelia growth through poisoned food technique, resulting in the minimum fungistatic (MCFs) and fungicidal concentrations (MCFg). The antifungal and antimycotoxigenic effect of CEO was studied on artificially contaminated wheat seeds with F. graminearum spores. Additionally, the herbicidal potential of CEO was studied by fumigating monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous weed seeds, which are problematic in agricultural field crops in Romania. The in vitro studies showed the antifungal potential of CEO, with a minimum concentration for a fungistatic effect of 0.4% and the minimum fungicidal concentration of 0.6%, respectively. An increase in the antifungal effects was observed in the in vivo experiment with F. graminearum, where a mixture of CEO with Satureja hortensis essential oil (SEO) was used. This increase is attributed to the synergistic effect of both EOs. Moreover, the synthesis of deoxynivalenol (DON)-type mycotoxins was found to be less inhibited. Hence, CEO has shown an herbicidal potential on weed seeds by affecting inhibition of germination.