Promising Antifungal Effect of Some Folkloric Medicinal Plants Collected from El- Hammam Habitat, Egypt against Dangerous Pathogenic and Toxinogenic Fungi

Increasing evidence of fungicide-resistant toxinogenic and pathogenic fungal species is obvious. Looking for new possibilities of antifungal treatment or sources of antifungal substances is a major problem. Some medicinal plants exert strong antifungal properties and could be conveniently used as a promising alternative source for presently problematic antifungal treatment in many areas with respect to their natural origin. In this study, antifungal activities of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (Aizoaceae); Blackiella aellen, Arthrocnemon glaucum and Atriplex halimus (Chenopodiaceae), Thymelaea hirsute (Thymelaeaceae), Carduus g e t u l u s , A t r a c t y l i s carduus a n d E c h i n o p s spinosissimus (Compositae), Nicotiana glauca (Solanaceae), Alhagi maurorum (Fabaceae) species were investigated. The fungal effects of these plants were tested by agar tube dilution method using Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria alternate, Rhizoctnia solani, Pythium ultimum, Bipolaris oryzae, Rhizopus, Chetomium and Mucor. For 10 plant species, the possibility of using them as natural fungicides was indicated. The extracts showed significant activity against most target fungal species. The most sensitive target funguses were the toxinogenic and human pathogenic species Fusarium solani and Bipolaris oryzae plant methanol and hexane extracts, respectively. The overall results provide promising base line information for the potential use of the crude extracts of tested plants in the treatment of fungal infections. An a t t e m p t has been made to highlight the promising plant species for further investigation as leads for new drug development.