Abstract
Essential oils (EOs) are some of the outstanding compounds found in Thymus that can exert antifungal, phytotoxic, and insecticidal activities, which encourage their exploration and potential use for agricultural and food purposes. The essential oils (EO) obtained from Thymus kotschyanus collected in the East Azerbaijan Province (Iran) were characterized using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Thymol was the most important compound (60.48%), although 35 other active compounds were identified in the EO. Significant amounts of carvacrol (3.08%), p-cymene (5.56%), and γ-terpinene (6.67%) were found in the EO. The T. kotschyanus EO was tested against important phytopathogenic fungi (Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, and Penicillium expansum). The antifungal assay showed that the use of ≥500 ppm of EO resulted in a fungicidal effect against all funguses tested. In a similar way, the use of ≥500 ppm of EO inhibited the germination of all crop weed seeds (Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Panicum miliaceum L.) and their subsequent growth, which demonstrated its herbicidal effect. Finally, the insecticidal capacity of T. kotschyanus EO was also observed against selected insects (Oryzaephilus surinamensis and Sitophilus oryzae). O. surinamensis was more susceptible to the effect of EO (LC50 = 4.78 µL/L air) than S. oryzae (LC50 = 13.20 µL/L air). The obtained results of the present study can provide new safe resources to the development of new products for the food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries.
Highlights
The Genus Thymus L., family Labiatae, consists of more than 215 herbaceous perennial species mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region [1,2]
The amount of essential oil (EO) yielded by the Clevenger hydro-distillation method was 3.5% (v/w) of dry weight, which had a color nuance ranging from light orange to yellow
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) chromatogram and chemical compositions of Essential oils (EOs) are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1, respectively
Summary
The Genus Thymus L., family Labiatae, consists of more than 215 herbaceous perennial species mainly distributed in the Mediterranean region [1,2]. Aromatic and medicinal plants have a variety of biological compounds, including essential oils, alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenols, saponins, and tannins, which provide them with antibacterial, antifungal, and pesticide attributes [4]. Essential oils (EOs) represent a sub-category of secondary metabolites which are found in aromatic plants, known as natural and various compounds with significant attributes and which play a key role in protecting the plants via their antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and pesticide attributes [5]. These EOs are a complex mixture of substances that are present at different forms and concentrations. Other Thymus species, such as T. carnosus, T. pubescens, and T. persicus, showed values of thymol between 14% and
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