Antifungal activity from silk, husk and corncob of Zea mays (CORN) / Nur Liyana Abdul Khalid

Corn (Zea mays) is an economically important cereal crop often used as a food product which contains essential vitamin and mineral which are necessary for the human health. Corn is the second most plentiful cereal grown for human consumption, and many cultures around the world have lived on this grain. However, parts of corn which are silk, husk and corncob are not be taken as consideration due to the less application in production. In facts, these parts bring much benefits to the society instead of being thrown away and will cause environmental pollution and bring harms to the environment as well as society. The aim of the study was to determine anti-fungal activity from silk, husk and corncob of Zea mays (corn). Plant material was collected from local area at Sungkak Corn Plantation. The anti-fungal potential of all three samples were determined against two fungal species Aspergillus spp and Candida albicans using disc diffusion susceptibility assay. All the extracted sample with five different concentration which are 200mg/mL, 100mg/mL, 50mg/mL, 25mg/mL and 12.5mg/mL were applied on a sterile disc to conduct disc diffusion test. Based on the result analysis showed that there were no zone of inhibition for all three extract sample of silk, husk and corncob of corn for each concentration. All the extract does not show variable degree of inhibitory zone by using disc diffusion method against fungi. Therefore, future study can be continued in determining the anti-fungal activity of silk, husk and corncob of Zea mays (corn) by using different extraction method, type of fungi and antibiotic.