Antifungal Activity In Vitro of Aqueous and Total Flavnoids Extracts of Plant Myrtus communis L. against Two Pathogenically Important Fungi, Saprolegnia and Fusarrium Isolated from Rainbow Trout Eggs

Abstract

In the present study, the efficiency of the flavonoid and aqueous extracts of M. communis L. tree leaves, a recognized Iranian medicinal plant, were assessed in vitro on the growth of isolated fungi, Saprolegnia and Fusarrium using the agar disc and well diffusion methods in flat-bottom microplates in the presence of various extract concentrations. The isolated fungi were sampled from the fertilized eggs of rainbow trout fish incubation farms. The leaves were collected from the natural habitats of the province of Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiary in the earlysummer and extrcation took place through maceration methods with water solvent as well as by flavonoid extraction methods with methanol solvent. During the succeeding trials, the antifungal effects of the flavonoid extracts (by the disk diffusion method) and the aqueous extracts (by the well diffusion method) against isolated Saprolegnia were revealed by MFC (Minimum Fatal Concentration) values 50 and 100 mg/ml, respectively. The only effect of the methanolic and aqueous extracts of M. communis leaves revealed the in vitro inhibiting effect on the growth of isolated Fusarium by MIC values 25 and 12.5 mg/ml, in disc diffusion and well diffusion methods, respectively. The antifungal effects obtained by the extracts had more effective aspects on isolated Saprolegnias in comparison to Fusariums. The results of the study indicate that M. communis could be considered as a potential candidate for designing effective antifungal extracts suitable for the treatment of the fish eggs fungal infections.