COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF FOUR ORGANIC SOLVENT FRACTIONS OF LEAF EXTRACT OF HEMP AGAINST Aspergillus versicolor

Abstract

The fungus Aspergillus versicolor is generally found on food products and produces sterigmatocystin, a carcinogenic and hepatotoxic mycotoxin. This study reports the usefulness of polar and non-polar fractions of methanolic extract of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) leaves against this fungus. Dried leaves of hemp were soaked in methanol for two weeks. After filtration and evaporation, water was added to the residual and partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. Different concentrations of each fraction were prepared which ranged from 1.562 to 200 mg mL^-1. Antifungal activity was carried out in malt extract broth medium. In general, all the concentrations of the four organic solvent fractions significantly controlled the growth of A. versicolor. There was 71–82%, 59–82%, 65–80% and 69–82% decline in biomass of A. versicolor due to n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions, respectively. It is concluded that different fractions of leaf extract of C. sativa has remarkable potential in controlling growth of A. versicolor.