<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">In present scenario the quantitative and the qualitative deterioration of the nutritional value of stored food material by the mycotoxins produced by the fungus render food unfit and hazardous for human consumption. Due to the various side effects of synthetic fungicide there is an urgent need for the development of ecofriendly, environment friendly, safe natural fungicide.</span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;\"> Essential oils isolated from plants exhibit variety of biological activity and have potent pharmacological activity.</span><em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\"> Alpinia malaccensis </span></em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">is a perennial medicinal plant belonging to the family Zingiberaceae is becoming a popular house plant andis used to cure wounds and sores.</span></p>
<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 150%;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">Fresh leaves were subjected to Clevenger&rsquo;s type apparatus for hydrodistillation to isolate essential oil. The antifungal activity determination was evaluated by disc diffusion method against the three plant pathogenic fungi viz; <em>Rhizoctonia solani,</em> <em>Sclerotium rolfsii</em> and <em>Sclerotinia solani. </em>The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was evaluated by the micro broth dilution method.</span></p>
 
<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 150%;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">The essential oil</span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;\">exhibited significant inhibitory effects against the growth of </span><em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvGulliv-R; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;\">S. solani</span></em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;\">and</span><em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvGulliv-R; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;\">S. rolfsii </span></em><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;\">with a MIC values of 31.25 </span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;\">&micro;g/ml and </span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvGulliv-R; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;\">61.5</span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;\"> &micro;g/ml respectively. <em>R. solani</em> was moderately suppressed by oil with the MIC of 125 &micro;g/ml. </span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">Thus it may be concluded that <em>A. malaccensis </em>leaf </span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\">essential oil might be used as a potent antifungal agent </span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: \'Times New Roman\',\'serif\';\" lang=\"EN-US\">after proper clinical trials.</span></p>