Antifungal Activity of the Extracts of Two Medicinal Plants from South Western Algeria: Ephedra alata and Bubonium graveolens

Background: Medicinal plants constitute an invaluable source of natural substances which can be used in the formulation of new antifungal agents. Among these medicinal plants, the genera Ephedra alata and Bubonium graveolens are used in traditional medicine. In the search for molecules bioactives, resource exploration natural, especially plants medicinal, appears as a track promising because they constitute, by their biodiversity, a great reserve of active substances. This study aimed to evaluation antifungal activity of medicinal plant extracts Bubonium graveolens and Ephedra alata against two fungi namely, Penicillium sp and Aspergillus niger. Method: During our work, we prepared the various extracts (aqueous, methanolic and ethyl acetate) for the plants studied, the search for the active compounds of these two species by the extraction method was essentially based. The antifungal tests were investigated by using agar medium methos The tests is estimated by determining the diameters of zone inhibition and growth inhibition rate PI %. Result: The results obtained show that the aqueous extracts of Ephedra alata and Bubonium graveolens are inactive against two fungi in our study. However, methanol and ethyl acetate extracts showed very good activity antifungal against the fungal species tested. The evaluation of the antifungal activity of the methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts had a higher activity (99,70 ±0,240) against all the molds tested compared to the aqueous extract (63,52 ±0,959). The extracts of Ephedra alata and Bubonium graveolens significantly inhibited the growth of the two fungi tested. These three extracts showed a good antifungal effect at the laboratory scale. Ours finding demonstrate that Bubonium graveolens and Ephedra alata extracts possesses antifungal activity that might be a natural potential source antifungal compounds used in pharmaceuticals products, cosmetics and food