## 3 Results
### Antifungal Activity of the EO  
The EO obtained by hydrodistillation were tested against the pathogenic fungi _R. solani_ (Figures 5 and 6 and Table 7), _F. oxysporum_ (Figure 7 and Table 8), and _B. cinerea_ (Figures 8 and 9 and Table 9). Observations on fungal growth in the presence and absence of the essential oil were made after 3, 5, and 7 days of incubation at 28 \({}^{\circ}\)C. Subsequently, to determine whether marigold EO exhibits fungicidal or fungistatic activity, the same plates were also analyzed after 10 days of incubation (Figures 5-9). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Sample** & **Concentration** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Inhibition Diameter (cm)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Efficiency**} \\ \hline  & **\%** & **3 Days** & **5 Days** & **7 Days** & **10 Days** & **\%** \\ \hline Control sample & 0 & 3.90 & 3.90 & 3.90 & 3.90 & / \\ \hline  & 100 & 0 & 0.03 & 0.13 & 0.88 & 77.58 \\ \cline{2-6} Marigold EO, _\"Nanuk\"_ variety & 75 & 0 & 0.18 & 0.43 & 1.68 & 57.00 \\ \cline{  
After 10 days of incubation, EO had an efficacy of 77.6% in inhibiting the growth of _R. solani_ when applied undiluted and 57.0% at a concentration of C\({}_{3}\) = 75% oil in emulsion. The last concentrations tested (C\({}_{1}\) = 25% and C\({}_{2}\) = 50% in emulsion) did not inhibit the colonization ability of _R. solani_, although the hyphae were less abundant compared to the untreated control. Optical microscopy studies showed that the morphology of _R. solani_ colony in the presence of the oil at C\({}_{1}\) = 25% underwent changes. Near the oil-impregnated discs, the cells were shorter and some of them were slightly swollen and thickened (Figure 6, arrow). For the phytopathogenic fungus _F. oxysporum_, it should be noted that marigold EO (Figure 7) did not have fungicidal activity, only fungistatic, and was able to delay mycelial growth, with the degree of inhibition depending on the concentration of the oil used and its composition. For the \"_Namuk_\" variety of marigold EO after 10 days of incubation, for C\({}_{1}\) = 25%, _B. cinerea_ showed delayed growth in the region where the oil was placed (Figure 8), indicating that the inhibitory effect was also due to other non-volatile compounds. As a general observation, for marigold EO at high concentrations (C \(>\) 50%), mycelial growth was completely suppressed compared to the control, and at C\({}_{1}\) = 25%, mycelial growth was only delayed by 3 days. Optical microscopy data show that in the oil spot area, the fungus had very limited contact with the agar surface; perforations in the cell wall and leakage of cytoplasm from the mycelium were observed (Figure 9). fungus _B. brongniartii_ to collectively combat the storage insect _S. granarius_. The results obtained for the tested marigold EO showed a fungistatic effect of 100% at a concentration of c = 100 uL L\({}^{-1}\) air two days after inoculation. It was also observed that in the first two days, at concentrations of c = 1 uL L\({}^{-1}\) air and c = 2 uL L\({}^{-1}\) air, marigold EO had a stimulating effect on fungal mycelium growth. The inhibitory effect is positively correlated with the tested concentration (Figure 10). The two-way ANOVA test showed that the factors, treatment (df = 3, F = 10.76, \(p\) = 0.003), and concentrations (df = 6, F = 198.1, \(p\) < 0.0001) had a highly significant influence on the fungal mycelium growth. Also, this EO did not exhibit satisfactory fumigant activity against adult _S. granarius_, as no mortality was recorded during the testing period. This could be related to the low concentration of EO in the air and the low incubation temperature. The initial objective was to combine the attributes of marigold essential oil with those of the entomogenic fungus _B. brongniartii_, aiming for an enhanced insecticidal effectiveness against the insect _S. granarius_. However, given the essential oil's lack of efficacy against the insect, it was decided not to proceed with the experiment involving the mixture of the two solutions.