Aromatic Index of Three Essential Oils from West Algeria

Attou Amina, Davenne Domini

Abstract

Use of medicinal plants is as old as human civilization and continuous efforts are being made to improve medicinal plants or produce their products in high amounts through various technologies, especially for searching new antimicrobial substances to combat microbes that constantly develop resistance to synthetic antibiotics. To evaluate the antibacterial activity of 3 plant essential oils (Ammoides verticillata, Mentha pulegium and Ruta chalepensis) against bacterial strains isolate from inpatients samples, a disc diffusion method was used, and to see the relation between activity and composition, the three essential oils was analyzed by GC/MS. The essential oil of Ammoides verticillata shown an excellent activity on both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, followed by Mentha pulegium that have medium effect, but the two essential oils are inactive against Pseudomonas aeruginosea. Then Ruta chalepensis oil is very weak or inactive on all bacteria, this give the Ammoides verticillata essential oil the highest aromatic average index of 0.89 on selected bacteria. The chemical composition supports the antibacterial actions of these volatile oils, the Ammoides verticillata oil-rich with phenolic compound especially thymol- has the best effect compared to Mentha pulegium oil which is characterized by the presence of monoterpenes, and at last ketones in Ruta chalepensis oil prevent it to have antibacterial activity