the antifungal effect of propolis ethanolic extract on aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus

Propolis, also known as bee glue, is a resinous mixture that honeybees create by combining beeswax with collected tree resins, saps, and other botanical sources. anti-fungal effect of propolis ethanolic extract on the major aflatoxin producing fungi, aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus were studied. morphological changes of growth and spore production were investigated. to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of ethanolic extract of propolis against the fungi aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus, minimum inhibitory concentration(mic) and minimum fungicidal concentration(mfc) were determined by using micro-dilution test method. the disc diffusion test method for were used for determining of growth inhibition zone. the results showed that ethanolic extract of propolis with 2000 μg/ml delayed the growth of aspergillus flavus in three days and the delayed sporulation until the tenth day. for aspergillus parasiticus, delaying of growth and sporulation with 2000 μg/ml of propolis extract 3 and 9 day respectively. the minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) of ethanol extract of propolis against aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus 250 and 125 μg/ml were determined respectively. the mfc of this extract for aspergillus flavus 500 μg/ml and aspergillus parasiticus 250μg/ml were determined. in conclusion this study showed that ethanolic extract of propolis can be used as effective antifungal agent against aspergillus flavus and aspergillus parasiticus.