Phytochemical and biocidal properties of Artemisia campestris subsp. campestris L. (Asteraceae) essential oil at the southern region of Algeria
Leila Bendifallah, Othmane Merah
Abstract
Wormwood ( Artemisia campestris subsp. campestris ) is a perennial Asteraceae which is used in folk medicine in many places of the world. Even known as medicinal herb, this subspecies of A. campestris is not chemically characterized. Therefore, the aims of this study were to screen phytochemical, to characterize the essential oil of Artemisia campestris subsp. campestris and to evaluate in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity of these essential oil. Chemical analyses showed that wormwood contains mainly flavonoids, tannins and free saponins. Moreover, essential oil determination highlighted the presence of α and β pinene, β cymene and limonene which are known as biocidal compounds. For the antibacterial activity, the aromatogram method helped highlight the antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Artemisia against four bacteria Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae . This power is relatively low; the inhibition zones vary between 8 and 14,1 mm. The dilution method confirmed the results of the aromatogram method. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) obtained is between 0.031% and 0.125% respectively of 0.01 and 0.0413 mg/ml. The most sensitive bacterial strains are Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae . Disk diffusion method also helped to highlight the essential oil antifungal power sagebrush country against mycelial growth of the tested strains especially Aspergillus niger . The zones of inhibition ranged from 22.5 to 24 mm where the values of MICs obtained are between 0.062% and 0.031% respectively representing 0.022 and 0.01 mg/ml. These results emphasized the potential use of the essential oil of A. campestris subsp. campestris as a preservative which is very promising for the food industry for its ability to prevent the oxidation of foods and reduce the growth of mycelial, which is responsible for food alteration.