Antifungal activity of essential oils of two plants containing 1,8-cineole as major component: Myrtus communis and Rosmarinus officinalis

Myrtus communis and rosmarinus officinalis are aromatic plants very used in traditional medicine. in the present work we studied chemical composition and antifungal activity of essential oils of these two plants. chromatographic analysis showed that 1,8-cineole is the major component of myrtle (37.0%) and rosemary (43.16%). antifungal activity of essential oils has been studied against three apple rot fungi by the micro-atmosphere method. the essential oils of m. communis was more active,it completely inhibited the growth of botrytis cinerea,penicillium expansum and alternaria alternata at concentrations of 400,600,1800 μl/l respectively. while that of r. officinalis has not achieved total inhibition only at concentrations above 800 μl/l for a. alternata and 1200 μl/l for b. cinerea,in the case of p. expansum,an inhibition percentage of 89% was obtained at a concentration of 1800 μl/l.