Public concern regarding food safety has increased in recent years as mycotoxins have
been reported hazards associated with animal feeds. Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium
verticilloides contaminations in food grains have been reported worldwide. These fungi
produce aflatoxin and fumonisin, respectively, that are harmful to humans and animals.
Chemicals such as ammonia and organic acids have been used to control fungi in animal
feeds. However, they are unfriendly to users. The experiments were conducted to study the
inhibition effect of betel leave extract on the growth of A. flavus TISTR 3366 and F.
verticilloides TISTR 3175, which were obtained from Thailand Institute of Scientific and
Technological Research. An extraction of betel leave with 95 % ethanol has been carried out.
The extract at concentrations of 10, 100, 1000 and 10,000 ppm and the control (without the
extract), then, were tested against the growth of these fungi in 10 replicates. The fungi were
cultured on potato dextrose agar and incubated at 30oC for 7 days. It was found that the extract
at 10,000 ppm completely inhibited the growth of these fungi. The concentrations at 10 and
100 ppm inhibited the growth of the A. flavus 5.00 and 6.55 % which were not significantly
different, whereas the concentration at 1,000 ppm inhibited this fungal growth at 48.90 %.
The growths of the F. verticilloides were inhibited 16.51, 22.41 and 33.53 % when treated
with the betel extracts at 10, 100 and 1,000 ppm, respectively. Theses results suggested the
high potential inhibition effect of the betel extract on these fungi.