Bily Nebié, Constantin M Dabiré, Schemaeza Bonzi, Rémy K Bationo, Siaka Sosso, Roger Ch Nebié, Irénée Somda, Eloi Palé and Pierre Duez

The objective of this study was to determine the chemical composition of essential oil obtained by co-distillation of Cymbopogon citratus and Eucalyptus camaldulensis and to compare its antifungal activity with that of the mixture obtained by combining the pure essential oils of the two plants. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation of the dry leaves of C. citratus and E. camaldulensis, separately, then of the mixture of these leaves in the mass ration 50/50. Essential oils were then analyzed by GC/MS and their antifungal activity on Phoma sorghina, Fusarium moniliforme and Macrophomina phaseolina was evaluated by direct contact method on PDA medium successively at doses of 0.6; 0.2 and 0.05%. Essential oil obtained by co-distillation mainly contains 1,8-cineole (38.52%) and citral (25.77%). Essential oil of C. citratus is dominated by citral (74.32%) and that of E. camaldulensis by 1,8-cineole (44.17%). All the essential oils, except that of E. camaldulensis, inhibited 100% the mycelial growth of the three fungi at the dose of 0.2%. At this dose, they were more effective than the synthetic fungicide used as control. Essential oil obtained by co-distillation was the most effective on Phoma sorghina and Fusarium moniliforme.

These results show that co-distillation improved the antifungal efficacy of C. citratus and E. camaldulensis essences and suggest the use of this combination as a natural fungicide.

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