Abstract
The chemical composition and antibacterial, insecticidal, and antioxidant properties of the essential oil from Mentha pulegium L. (M. pulegium) growing in Morocco were investigated in this work. To achieve this goal, the oils were obtained by using hydrodistillation before being characterized by GC-MS. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were conducted against pathogenic strains using the disc diffusion and MICS bioassays. The insecticidal activity was carried out versus C. maculatus using contact and inhalation tests. The antioxidant activity was performed by using DPPH and total antioxidant capacity bioassays. The chemical analysis of the oil showed that 20 compounds were identified, which represented 98.91% of the total oil. In the oil, the main components detected were R-(+)-pulegone (76.35%), carvone (5.84%), dihydrocarvone (5.09%), and octanol-3 (2.25%). The essential oil has moderate-to-strong broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal properties; the results showed that B. subtilis was the most sensitive strain to M. pulegium oil, with the largest inhibition diameter (25 ± 0.33). For the antifungal activity, the results obtained indicated that Aspergillus niger was the most sensitive fungal strain to M. pulegium oil with an inhibition percentage up to 100%. Regarding the insecticidal activity, the inhalation test showed a high efficacy (100% mortality), and a lethal concentration of LC50 = 1.41 + 0.48 μL/L air was obtained after 24 hours of exposure. Moreover, the contact test showed that a total reduction in fertility and emergence was obtained with a dose of 20 μL/mL of acetone. Regarding the antioxidant activity, the sample concentration necessary to inhibit 50% of HE radicals (IC50) was 7.659 mg/mL (DPPH) and 583.066 57.05 mg EAA/g EO (TAC).
Highlights
Morocco’s geographical location provides a diverse spectrum of bioclimates, allowing for the formation of diverse flora [1, 2]. e floral wealth is largely related to the ecological heterogeneity of the biotopes
Petri dishes containing BN medium were seeded with the tested bacterial strains (Escherichia coli (ATB: 57) B6N; Escherichia coli (ATB: 97) BGM; Staphylococcus aureus; and Bacillus subtilis) whilst the MEA (Malt Extract Agar) medium was seeded with C. albicans, A. niger, A. flavus, and F. oxysporum
Extraction Yield and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil. e yield of Essential oil (EO) recovered was 2.14 ± 0.22 mL/100 g dry matter. e EO was dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate before being stored in a refrigerator at 4°C until further use
Summary
Morocco’s geographical location provides a diverse spectrum of bioclimates, allowing for the formation of diverse flora [1, 2]. e floral wealth is largely related to the ecological heterogeneity of the biotopes. E country possesses ancient know-how [3], which has been conserved throughout the ages, in addition to this especially favorable natural setting. In this sense, herbal medicine has witnessed large use by the indigenous people in flavoring and preserving foodstuffs. Essential oil (EO) from plants is an important resource of natural products and their components are mainly used as food flavors. It would be interesting to discover whether M. pulegium essential oil and its components have insecticidal properties against other species. We studied the chemical composition of M. pulegium essential oils, as well as their insecticidal activities against Callosobruchus maculatus, one of the most common pests of chickpea grains in Morocco along with antioxidant activity, and antimicrobial activity against some pathogenic strains in this study
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