Studies on in Vitro Antifungal Activity of Foeniculum Vulgare Mill. against Spoilage Fungi

Foeniculum vulgare Mill. commonly known as fennel, belongs to family Apiaceae. The aqueous and alcoholic seed extracts of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. were evaluated for their antifungal activity against Alternaria alternata, Mucor rouxii and Aspergillus flavus. The method used for determination of antifungal activity of both aqueous and alcoholic seed extracts was agar well diffusion method. The aqueous extract of fennel seeds was found to be very effective against Alternaria alternata. The maximum zone (32.33 ± 2.52mm) of growth inhibition was obtained against this food spoilage fungus. Whereas the alcoholic seed extract of fennel was found to be adequately effective against Mucor rouxii with growth inhibition zone diameter of 2.87 ± 1.16mm. Both the extracts were completely ineffective against Aspergillus flavus .The results obtained from this study may contribute to the development of environmentally safer alternatives to protect the spoilage of food products from pathogenic and lipolytic fungi.