a remedy for biodeterioration: zingiber officinale roscoe. oil

in our study, bioactivity of essential oil extracted from ginger (zingiber officinaleroscoe.) that belongs to family zingiberaceae was analyzed. ginger rhizome oil was found to be effective against a range of bio-deteriogens. the minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) value was determined by poisoned food technique and volatile activity assay. the study demonstrates that essential oil had a wide spectrum of antifungal activities against common biodeteriogens aspergillus niger van tiegh., penicillium chrysogenum thom., alternaria alternate (fr.) keissl and fusarium roseum link. minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) of oil was found to be effective, showing results at 1.0ml/cm-3of oil in respect to all fungi. at higher concentration of 2.0 ml/cm-3 of oil was fungicidal in action.2.0 ml/cm-3 was proved appropriate concentration for commercial trial of ginger oil as preservative for stored pulses and nuts which were used as test commodities.