Irène Ahou Kouadio^1,, Louis Koffi Ban², Mireille Bretin Dosso³

This study was aimed to find out an alternative to synthetic fungicides used in the control of fungi development in crops including coffee. The antifungal was extracted from green berries of Solanum indicum L. and its effect on the behavior of three Aspergillus species Ochratoxin A (OTA) producers (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus ochraceus) was evaluated on a coffee-agar medium. The results show a reduction of growth with the increase of the antifungal content in the medium. Indeed, on the medium without antifungal, the growth rate has reached 90 mm within only 3 days of incubation for the three strains tested, while no growth was observed for A. niger and A.carbonarius from 8% of antifungal in the medium and for A. ochraceus, at 10% of antifungal in the medium even after 7 days of incubation. However, the total inhibition of OTA was observed from 8% of antifungal in the medium for these three strains of Aspergillus. Indeed, the amounts of OTA produced on the coffee-agar medium without antifungal were 0.005, 1.63 and 0.108 µg/mL respectively for A. niger, A. carbonarius and A. ochraceus, while from 8% of antifungal fraction in the medium, no detectable OTA amount was observed for the three strains tested after 7 days of incubation. The phytochemical screening of this antifungal fraction revealed compounds including flavonoids, carotenoids and saponins. These results suggest the use of this antifungal fraction as an alternative to synthetic fungicides for the control of fungi development and OTA production in coffee beans.

coffee beans, Solanum indicum L., green berries, Aspergillus, Ochratoxin A, antifungal