The yields of peels extracts (g/100 g of fruit peels) with two solvents
are shown in Table 1. The yields in ethanolic extracts of
pomegranate peels (57.69%) and lemon peels (19.40%) were higher
than in methanolic extracts (50.71% and 14.92%, respectively). The
results for antifungal activity of methanolic and ethanolic extracts
against aflatoxigenic strain of A. flavus are given in Table 1. In general
ethanolic extracts were found more effective with higher DIZ
(29–37 mm) than methanolic extracts (26–32 mm). The significant
fungal-growth inhibitory potential of pomegranate and lemon
peels (37 and 29 mm), respectively was found to be considerably
higher than earlier reported for pomegranate peel extract
(12 mm) against Aspergillus niger (Al-Zoreky, 2009), and for Mimosa
pudica extract (12 mm) against Aspergillus fumigatus (Gandhiraja
et al., 2009). In our study higher antifungal potential of pomegranate
peels was in accordance with studies by Tehranifar et al.
(2011).
Results for lowest concentration of peel extracts completely
inhibiting the growth of A. flavus depicted that effectiveness of
two extracts of pomegranate peel was greater (MIC 135 and
185 lg/mL) than two lemon peel extracts (342 and 387 lg/mL).
Present analysis confirmed that an inverse relation exist between
DIZ and MIC for effective antifungal activity of pomegranate peels