Effect of naturally occurring antimicrobials and chemical preservatives on the growth of Aspergillus Parasiticus.

Effect of water activity (aw, 0.99), pH (4.5) and their interaction on the growth inhibition of Aspergillus parasiticus was studied on potato dextrose agar (PDA) using various antimicrobial agents (citral, carvacrol, eugenol, cineole, thymol guaiacol, vanillin, anethol, potassium sorbate and sorbic acid). The results demonstrate that colony diameter (mm) exhibited a constant increase with time (zero order kinetics) for all antimicrobials evaluated. Eugenol and sorbic acid inhibited the test fungi at 300 and 600 ppm, respectively. Radial growth rate (RGR) of A. parasiticus was significantly (p < 0.05) different among different antimicrobials as well as the concentrations tested. However, this difference was not observed with higher concentration of citral, eugenol, vanillin and sorbic acid. Among the antimicrobials evaluated potassium sorbate, cineole, anethol and guaiacol were least effective. Thymol, eugenol and carvacrol were more effective in inhibiting A. parasiticus even with low concentration (150 ppm) as their mean RGR was zero even after 20 days of incubation (pH 4.5).