Antimicrobial Activity and Composition of Essential Oil from Echinophora platyloba

Abstract

The antimicrobial activity of essential oils and their derivatives has been recognized for a long time. In this study, the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Echinophora platyloba essential oil against Escherichia coli O157, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes and Aspergillus niger. The essential oil obtained by hydro-distillation extraction method using Clevenger apparatus. E. platyloba oil was analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Antimicrobial activity determined by detection of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for bacteria and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) for the fungi strain. Broth micro-dilution and paper disc diffusion methods used for antimicrobial activity tests. Results obtained by GC-MS analysis showed 47 constituents identified in the essential oil composition with the main compounds including: asarone (10.15 %), anethole (7.39 %), eugenol (6.74 %), dimethyl styrene (6.55 %), dimethyl styrene isomer (5.28 %), nuciferol (5.087 %). E. platyloba oil showed the MIC of 0.05, 0.05, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 mg/ml respectively for the mentioned microbes. The inhibition zones formed by the essential oil and standard antibiotic discs showed that E. platyloba essential oil was inhibitory to all of the microbes at the concentrations of 3.12, 6.25, 12.5 and 25 mg/ml. Results confirmed the possibility of using this essential oil in food systems to prevent the growth of some foodborn microorganisms.