Abstract
The Cymbopogon nardus L. is a plant popularly known as "citronella grass", originating from Ceylon and India, used in Indonesia as a soothing and digestive tea. The essential oil of the species Cymbopogon nardus (OECN) is used in the manufacture of cosmetics and perfumes, besides having shown antimicrobial action against Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Streptococcus spp., and in addition antioxidant, anti-inflammatory. The objective of this study was to determine the larvicidal and fungicide potential of OECN extracted from the fresh leaves of C. nardus. L at the beginning of the dry season in Teresina, PI. From the OECN extracted by hydrodistillation, the actives were identified by mass gas chromatography. The larvicidal action of OECN was tested against the third and fourth larval stages of Aedes aegypti at concentrations (2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10 μL/20 ml) for 24 to 48 hours. Antifungal activity for Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus at concentrations (1.0, 2.0, 4.0 6.0 and 8.0 μL/10 mL). The OECN showed a good yield (1.0%), with 26 assets (93.2%) identified with the majority: citronelal (31.6%), geraniol (22.1%), elemol (11.8%) and citronellol (8.2%). Mortality of 100% of the larvae was observed at concentrations of 7.5 and 10.0 µl / 20 ml in 24 hours. After 48 hours 93.3% in 5.0 µl/10 ml OECN and 70% in 2.5 µl/10 ml. A. flavus showed greater sensitivity to OECN at 8.0 µl / 10 ml than A. parasiticus at concentrations. A. parasiticus was the most sensitive at concentrations of 1.0 and 2.0 µL / 10 mL. OECN has a larvicidal action and antifungal activity at the tested concentrations.
Highlights
Essential oils (EO) from aromatic plants are secondary metabolites consisting of a mixture of bioactive substances (Pavela, 2016) and an association of different compounds that hinder the formation of resistance by potentially pathogenic organisms
2.2 Extraction of Essential Oils The EO of the fresh leaves of Cymbopogon nardus were extracted by hydrodistillation for three hours in a Clevenger type device with a temperature of 100oC to 105oC, dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate, that was, weighed and stored in a capped flask, coated with aluminum foil and stored in a refrigerator at an average temperature of 4.0° C, until the moment of gas chromatography analysis coupled to mass spectroscopy (Aguiar et al, 2014)
In the present study in Teresina, PI, the CEON yield was 1.0%, using the same methodology, despite having been carried out in distant geographic regions but in close climatic conditions. Both the production and the chemical constitution of the essential oils present in the plant depend on a series of edaphoclimatic factors (Pavarini et al, 2012; Wasternack et al, 2016; Wasternack et al, 2017)
Summary
Essential oils (EO) from aromatic plants are secondary metabolites consisting of a mixture of bioactive substances (Pavela, 2016) and an association of different compounds that hinder the formation of resistance by potentially pathogenic organisms. They can be defined as a set of complex and volatile substances, in general odoriferous and liquid (Sarma et al, 2019). The essential oil of the species Cymbopogon nardus (OECN) is used in the manufacture of cosmetics and perfumes, in addition to having shown antimicrobial action against Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Streptococcus spp., and beyond that, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory. The chemical composition of OECN is described in the literature with high content of geraniol and citronellal (Wei et al, 2013; Bayala et al, 2020)
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