Antifungal activity of the essential oil of Mentha piperita (Lamiaceae: Labiatae) – a review

Abstract

Introduction: The uncontrolled use of synthetic fungicides besides causing damage to the environment, helped in increasing fungal resistance, an altenative for the control of resistant fungi is the use of botanical fungicides. Mentha piperita L. (peppermint), this species of mint has chemical compounds such as methanol and methanone, which are described as antifungal agents. Objective: To evaluate in the literature the main authors who report the antifungal activity of Mentha piperita L., against different fungal species. Methodology: We chose to perform a literature review in the databases Scopus, Embase, Web of Science and ScienceDirect. Results: 12 articles were selected to compose the review and revealed that peppermint essential oil presents fungicidal activity against several fungal species, such  as Cladosporium cladosporioides, Verticillium dahlia, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Botrytis cinerea and Aspergillus flavus, presenting high efficiency, as reported at the rate of 72.4% for Fusarium solani. Conclusion: The essential oil  of Mentha piperita can be used in the formulation of botanical fungicides.