2.1.2.1 Antifungal activity of the essential oils

Assessment of antifungal activity in vitro of caraway and spearmint essential oils was evaluated against S. rolfsii (Figure 1). Caraway essential oil completely inhibited the growth of the fungal pathogen even at the lowest concentration (2%). On the other hand, spearmint essential oil showed slight reduction in the fungal pathogen growth. The antifungal activity of caraway essential oil may be attributed to some antifungal phytochemicals that constitute a large fraction of the oil like carvone, limonene, carveol, pinene and thujone [12].
