| Summary: | The aims of this study were to test the antifungal activity, toxicity and chemical composition of essential oil from <em>C. sativum</em> L. fruits. The essential oil, obtained by hydro-distillation, was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. Linalool was the main constituent (58.22%). The oil was considered bioactive, showing an LC<sub>50</sub> value of 23 µg/mL in the <em>Artemia salina</em> lethality test. The antifungal activity was evaluated against <em>Microsporum canis</em> and <em>Candida</em> spp. by the agar-well diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were established by the broth microdilution method. The essential oil induced growth inhibition zones of 28 ± 5.42 and 9.25 ± 0.5 for <em>M. canis</em> and <em>Candida</em> spp. respectively. The MICs and MFCs for <em>M. canis</em> strains ranged from 78 to 620 and 150 to 1,250 µg/mL, and the MICs and MFCs for <em>Candida</em> spp strains ranged from 310 to 620 and 620 to 1,250 µg/mL, respectively. <em>C. sativum</em> essential oil is active<em> in vitro</em> against <em>M. canis </em>and<em> Candida</em> spp. demonstrating good antifungal activity.
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