Abstract

ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF BIXA ORELLANA LEAF EXTRACT AGAINST ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS AND ASPERGILLUS NIGER

Smrutipriya Jena and Sunita Bhatnagar*

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Abstract

Bixa orellana leaf extracts were explored for their antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus and A. niger. Four solvent extracts were prepared; these were hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol. Antifungal activity was assessed using radical growth method, agar well diffusion, biomass reduction followed by evaluation of aflatoxin content of the experimental samples. Chloroform extract exerted mild activity(10-40%) against both the models, same exerted about 50% activity in biomass reduction in A. flavus and A. niger at higher dose of 1mg/ml. Same extract was also reduced the aflatoxin content by 15% when compared with the controlled samples.

Keywords: Bixa orellana, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Antifungal, Aflatoxin.