RESUMO
The economic losses caused by plant pathogens, the development of genetic resistance to applied pesticides by major pathogenic bacteria and public concerns about the use of synthetic chemicals on food and environment, increased interest in the search of alternative safe methods to control diseases spreading. Biological control with plant extracts has emerged as a promising option. The present study was carried out to determine the effect of Ammoides pusilla essential oil on the growth of two pathogenic bacteria, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and Pseudomonas syringae pv. mosprunorum Three essential oil treatments, 1/2 v/v, 1/5 v/v and 1/10 v/v concentrations, were tested onto these bacteria, using the agar diffusion test. The results showed that 1/2 v/v concentration treatment completely inhibited Pseudomonas syringae pv. mosprunorum growth and produced a 35 mm diameter inhibition zone for Pseudomonas syringae pu. syringae. 1/5 v/v essential oil concentration produced inhibition zones of 19 and 17 mm diameter for Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and Pseudormonas syringae pv. mosprunorum respetively, while 1/10 v/v essential oil concentration gave inhibition plates of 11 and 12 mm diameter for both stains in the order cited. In in vitro culture essential oil gave promising results suggesting that future studies should be carried out and focus on determining appropriate formulation of this bio-molecule to be use as a bio-control agent.