الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The antibacterial and antimycotic effects of essential oils, ethanol and aqueous extracts of each of 14 different medicinal plants namely; garlic, galangal, cabbage, cannabis, cinnamon, eucalyptus, elecampane, black cumin, basil, marjoram, opium poppy, rosemary, clove and thyme were assayed against the growth of eight pathogenic bacteria representing three Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus) and five Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella typhi), five pathogenic fungal species (Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. ostianus, Alternaria alternata and Fusarium solani) and one pathogenic yeast species (Candida albicans). Essential oils had the broader spectrum highly antibacterial and antimycotic activities followed by ethanol extracts of tested medicinal plants against assayed microorganisms, while aqueous extracts were the least. The essential oils of galangal, eucalyptus, elecampane and basil as well as the ethanol extracts of galangal, cabbage, elecampane and basil in addition to both aqueous extracts of galangal and eucalyptus had wide spectrum highly antibacterial activity against tested bacteria, while, the essential oils of garlic, cinnamon, elecampane and clove in addition to cinnamon,elecampane and clove ethanol extracts had wide spectrum highly antimycotic activity. So, they were chosen to undergo the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination and qualitative phytochemical screening. The MICs for both essential oil and ethanol extract of basil and clove presented the best activity and lowest concentration in MICs. Hence, they were chosen as the most potent antibacterial and antimycotic extracts, respectively for determining their chemical components using GC/MS analysis.
Also, one hundred and thirty-seven species in addition to six species-varieties belonging to forty-three genera were recovered from seventy samples belonging to fourteen kinds of medicinal plants. Two species belonging to two genera were new records from medicinal plants to the Mycological Laboratories in Egypt and these were: Aspergillus ostianus and Gilmaniealla humicola. The averages total fungal counts were fluctuated between 2 and 45210 colonies per g dry weight of medicinal plant kind. The highest count of fungi was recorded in cannabis, while the lowest fungal count was recorded in clove. Aspergillus was the most prevalent genus with regard to the number of cases of isolation. It was represented in 90% of the samples tested comprising 48.16% of the gross total count of fungi. The average total counts of this genus widely varied from 7 – 105400 colonies per g dry weight. Cannabis was the richest substrate in the total population of the genus, while garlic was the poorest. The mycotoxins contaminated samples were eight represented 11% of tested samples. Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in combination with ochratoxins A and B contamination were detected in one sample of opium poppy. Ochratoxin A was detected in one sample of elecampane. Sterigmatocystin only was also demonstrated in one sample of cannabis, while sterigmatocystin in combination with ochratoxins A and B were detected in all samples tested of cinnamon. Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 and ochratoxins A and B were demonstrated in the crude extracts of Aspergillus ostianus isolated from cabbage sample for the first time in Egypt and cultivated on different media for mycotoxins production.