Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: The present study comprises pharmacological trials with the essential oils of Mentha arvensis, Ocimum canum and Zingiber officinale which have been found to exhibit pronounced fungitoxic effects on several types of fungi which are toxic to some crops. Analysies of the blood and serum of albino rats fed with an oil-supplemented diet for sixty days did not reveal significant variations in the levels of hemoglobin, total blood glucose, protein, cholesterol, urea, serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase nor in differential leucocyte counts, in comparison to rats fed a normal rat diet. These essential oils, thus, can be recommended as safe antifungal agents in so far as the parameters tested indicate.

Key words: Mentha arvensis, Ocimum canun, Zingiber officinale, fungitoxicity, animal toxicity, pharmacology, essential oils