Abstract

Essential oil from the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus collected in north centre region ofMorocco obtained by hydro-distillation were analyzed by gas chromatography equipped with flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). To evaluate the antifungal activities of these aromatic extracts, their in vitroantifungal activities were determined by disk diffusion testing to find out minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Penicillium citrinum was used as test fungal strains. The results of the study revealed that essential oil yields and the total oil of E. globulus were 1.21 and 63.96%,respectively. 54 compounds were identified in the essential oils and the main constituents of the essential oils were: 1.8-cineole (22.35%), limonene, (7.01%), solanol (6.05%), β-pinene (5.20%), trans-verbenol (4.02%), terpinen-4-ol (3.10%), aristolene (2.35%), terpinyl acetate (2.10%), isosativene (1.85%), sabinene (1.49%), α-myrcene (1.15%) and α-terpineol (1.10%).The essential oil of E. globulus exhibited the activity against, P. citrinum exerting the minimum inhibitory concentration values (MIC) ranging from 3.07 to 96.14 μl/ml, respectively.  These results showed that extracts could be considered as a natural antifungal source that can be used for production of natural antifungal agents.

Key words: Eucalyptus globulus, essential oil, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), antifungal activity, 1.8-cineole.