en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Background: </strong>Herbal Essential Oils (EOs) are natural, volatile, and complex compounds that are defined by a strong odor. This study was conducted to investigate and compare antioxidant and antifungal properties of EO extracted from flowers and leaves of <em>Origanum vulgare </em>ssp. <em>gracile </em>from Iran.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Methods:</strong> EOs of leaves and flowers of <em>O. vulgare </em>ssp. <em>gracile </em>were extracted using a modified Clevenger apparatus and hydro-distillation method. <em>In vitro </em>antioxidant properties of the EOs were evaluated by 2,2- diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2&#39;-azino-bis (3-ethyl benzo thiazoline-6-sulphonic acid, ABTS⁺) assays and their antifungal properties were assessed against <em>Aspergillus flavus</em> and <em>A. niger</em> by agar disk diffusion and micro well dilution methods. The EOs exhibited both fungi<a name="_GoBack"></a>static and fungicidal activity against tested fungal species. Statistical analysis of data was performed using SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL software (v.16.0).</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Results:</strong> Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) values for <em>A. niger </em>and <em>A. flavus</em> were 200 and 100 &micro;g/ml, respectively; however, the MFC values for the mentioned fungi were 400 and 200, respectively. The flower EOs had significantly (<em>p</em><0.05) higher inhibitory activities against both fungal species comparing to leave EOs. Also, it was found that <em>A. flavus</em> was significantly (<em>p</em><0.05) more susceptible to EOs than <em>A. niger</em>. Remarkable antioxidant capacity was observed in both EOs, but it was significantly (<em>p</em><0.05) lower than Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) as a synthetic antioxidant.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Although, antioxidant as well as antifungal efficacy of flowers EO was significantly higher than the leaves EO, both leaves and flowers EOs could be recommended as an antifungal preservative in food industries for their application in hurdle systems.</span></p> Origanum, Oils Volatile, Food Safety 134 140 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-132&slc_lang=en&sid=1 M. Hashemi No Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran A. Ehsani No Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran M. Aminzare m.aminzare@zums.ac.ir Yes Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran H. Hassanzadazar No Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, School of Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran