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Abstract
Essential oils have antifungal and antipathogenic effects and therefore are targets
in plant pathology research for their potential uses as natural substitutes for inorganic
plant pesticides. Beauveria bassiana, an entomopathogenic fungus, can endophytically
colonize a vast number of plant species and trigger induced systemic resistance against
plant pathogens. Spore germination is the most vulnerable in the fungal life cycle
and is therefore a good candidate for monitoring the effect of essential oils on the
growth of B. bassiana. Percentage germination of fungal spores and length of germination
tubes were recorded from experiments. A mathematical model that was able to capture
the effects of cymene, an essential oil produced by Monarda, on the germination and
growth was developed. This is the first report of a model for the impact of essential
oils on B. bassiana spore germination.