Antifungal Activities of Aroma Components from Alpinia galanga against Water Molds

Abstract

We investigated the antifungal activities of linalool, geranyl acetate and 1, 8-cineole, the major essential oils from the rhizomes of the greater galangal Alpinia galanga, against some fungi in the Saprolegniaceae. The toxicity to goldfish (Carassius auratus) and platyfish (Xiphophorus maculates) was also investigated.Saprolegnia parasitica NJM 8604, S. diclina NJM 0236, Achlya bisexualis NJM 9905, A. diffusa NJM 0011, and two isolates (NJM 9701 and NJM 0219) of Aphanomyces piscicida were used in this study. The fungistatic concentrations of linalool, geranyl acetate and 1, 8-cineole against the hyphae of the used strains were 2, 000 to 500, 2, 500 to 250 and 5, 000 to 3, 000 μ g/ml, respectively, while the fungicidal concentrations of each chemical against the strains were 1, 250 to 1, 000, over 2, 000 and 4, 000 to 2, 000 μ g/ml, respectively. The zoospores of all isolates exposed to 750 μ g/ml linalool, 500 μ g/ ml geranyl acetate and 1, 500 μ g/ml 1, 8-cineole for 30 min could not germinate. The chemicals, however, were toxic to platyfish and goldfish at the fungicidal concentrations.