Antifungal Activity of Garlic Oil on Radial Growth of Fusarium sp.

Fusarium is a soil-borne fungus genus causing significant economic damage to crop through diseases like Fusarium wilt and root rot, which also pose health risks due to mycotoxin production. Traditional chemical fungicides used to control Fusarium face limitations related to environmental impact and resistance development, leading to increased interest in natural alternatives. Garlic oil, known for its antifungal properties from compounds such as allicin, DADS, and DAS, is being evaluated as a potential biological control agent. This study investigates garlic oil's effectiveness against Fusarium species and explores ways to enhance its efficacy, aiming to establish it as a viable biological pesticide and contribute to innovative agricultural management strategies. For this purpose, Fusarium sp. cultures that were 3–5 days old were inoculated onto petri dishes containing 1%, 2%, 5%, and 10% garlic oil mixed with PDA (which included 3% dimethyl sulfoxide). After five days of incubation, the diameters of the colonies were measured. The effect of garlic oil on Fusarium sp. radial growth was calculated considering the control group. The study was carried out in three replications. The results clearly demonstrate that Taurus mint exhibits strong inhibitory effects against Penicillium. This study assessed the effectiveness of garlic oil in inhibiting the growth of Fusarium sp. and found that low concentrations (1%) had minimal antifungal effects, reducing radial growth by only 1.57%. Conversely, higher concentrations (5% and 10%) surprisingly increased fungal growth, with 5% garlic oil causing a 12.69% increase and 10% resulting in a 28.74% increase. This suggests that while garlic oil has some antifungal properties, its effectiveness may diminish or even reverse at higher concentrations. The results indicate the need for further research to determine the optimal concentration of garlic oil for controlling Fusarium and explore its use in combination with other antifungal agents and application methods to enhance its effectiveness as a biological control agent in agriculture.