Efficacy of Alcea damascena Extracts on Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus

Abstract

Aflatoxins have become a major concern for food safety and security due to their negative health and economic impacts. It has become necessary to formulate new strategies to mitigate the effects associated with contamination with these toxins without any impact on public health, quality and nutritional value of food and feed. This study evaluated the effectiveness of methanolic extracts of the leaves, flowers, and seeds of Alcea damascena in inhibiting the growth and spore count of the two aflatoxin producing fungi Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, and evaluated the effectiveness of these extracts on the germination of spores of the two above mentioned fungi. The extracts showed the highest inhibition rate (%) against the growth of Aspergillus niger fungus at a concentration of 200 mg/ml after an incubation period of 6 days for all extracts, and the highest inhibition against the growth of Aspergillus flavus fungus was at a concentration of 200 mg/ml after an incubation period of 6 days for the leaf and seed extracts, and an incubation period of 72 hours for the flower extract at the same concentration. The leaf extract had the highest inhibition rate against the two fungi, 22.41 and 40.24% for Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, respectively. The extract concentration of 100 mg/ml showed the highest effectiveness on spore count of both fungi, and the leaf extract had the highest effect against the fungus Aspergillus niger 82.60%, whereas the seed extract had the highest effect against the Aspergillus flavus fungus 56.89%. The results obtained in this study showed the potential of using the methanolic extract of the Alcea damascena plant as a safe alternative in inhibiting the growth of aflatoxin producing fungi Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus.

Keywords:

Alcea damascena, methanolic extracts, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus.