Assessment of chemically characterised Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall. essential oil and its major component as safe plant based preservative for millets against fungal, aflatoxin contamination and lipid peroxidation during storage.

The present study aims survey of fungi causing deterioration of millets during storage, detection of aflatoxigenic fungal strains ans assessment of chemically characterized Gaultheria fragrantissiuma Wall essential oil (EO) and its major component methyl salicylate (MS) as plant based preservative. Essential oil (EO) and its major component methyl salicylate (MS) as plant based preservative was evaluated. In this study a total of 13 fungal species along with toxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus were isolated from the millets. Chemical characterization of G. fragrantissima EO through GC-MS analysis revealed Methyl salicylate (98.04%) as major component. The EO significantly inhibited growth and aflatoxin B1 production by toxigenic strain of A. flavus LHP (B)-7 at 1.0 and 0.7 µl ml-1 respectively. In addition, EO exhibited remarkable antioxidant activity (IC50 7.5 µl ml-1). EO and MS showed non phytotoxic nature on germination of millets. The LD50 of the EO was 3833.33 µl kg-1 for mice showing favourable safety profile. In view of side effects of synthetic preservatives, the study recommends G. fragrantissima EO as a safe plant based preservative to enhance shelf-life of food commodities during storage.