3.2. Effect of volatiles on aflatoxin production
The usual methods of testing the antimicrobial activity of natu- ral products are either by supplementing growth media or by inoc- ulation of the plant itself. However these methods do not reflect the actual activity of the volatile fraction alone. Moreover, preli- minary studies on storage of spices by exposing the vapor of the essential oil (EO) were found to be highly effective in preventing fungal contamination. In this context, the experiment on vaporiza- tion of the leaf oil against A. flavus clearly shows the fungicidal property of the compound (Fig 2).
3.3. GC–MS pattern of turmeric leaf oil
Table 3 gives the GC–MS pattern of turmeric leaf oil, wherein the major components are a-phellandrene (24.4%), p-cymene (11.07%) and terpinolene (13.1%) as reported earlier by Ramachan- draiah et al. (1998).
4. Discussion
Aromatic organic compounds of spice oils possess antifungal activity and therefore may control the production of mycotoxin by fungi (Wilson and Wisniewski, 1992; Hesseltine, 1965; Chatterjiee,
1990; Chaurasia and Kher, 1978). Recently there has been