Essential oil study of <i>Artemisia herba Alba</i> (asso.): antifungal activity against <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>ciceri</i> and phytochemical analysis <i>by gC/mS</i>

This study investigated on the <i>Artemisia herba-alba</i> (Asso.) essential oil antifungal activity; (EO) against <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>ciceri</i> (FOC), the causal agent of chickpea wilt. Distillation of leaves parts of <i>Artemisia herba-alba</i> (Asso.) using Clevenger apparatus, yielded 1.7 ± 0.17% essential oil. The extracted essential oil demonstrated significant antifungal activity against mycelial growth. The inhibition rates were 72.08 and 100% observed by using sterile paper disc containing 15 and 20 µl of EO, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed structural damage to fungal cells, including collapsed conidia with micro-fissures and cell wall destruction. Phytochemical analysis of <i>A. herba alba</i> essential oil using CPG/SM allowed us to identify 26 compounds, with major components being: Camphor (22.893%), Chrysanthenone (22.235%), β-Thujone (7.686%) and α-Thujone (7.316%).