Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Mar 6:16:160-173.
doi: 10.17179/excli2016-832. eCollection 2017.

Chemical composition and biological activities of Salvia officinalis essential oil from Tunisia

Med Raâfet Ben Khedher  1 , Saoussen Ben Khedher  2 , Ikbal Chaieb  3 , Slim Tounsi  2 , Mohamed Hammami  1
Affiliations

Chemical composition and biological activities of Salvia officinalis essential oil from Tunisia

Med Raâfet Ben Khedher et al. EXCLI J. .

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, insecticidal and allelopathic activities of Tunisia Salvia officinalis essential oil (SoEO). The SoEO was characterized by the presence of 49 components with camphor (25.14 %), α-thujone (18.83 %), 1,8-cineole (14.14 %), viridiflorol (7.98 %), β-thujone (4.46 %) and β-caryophyllene (3.30 %) as the major components, determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The level of antioxidant activity, determined by complementary tests, namely 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging (IC50= 6.7 mg/mL), linoleic acid peroxidation (IC50= 9.6 mg/mL) and ferric reducing assays (IC50= 28.4 mg/mL), was relatively moderate. The SoEO was also screened for its antimicrobial activity. Good to moderate inhibitions were recorded for most of tested microorganisms. It also exhibited important insecticidal activity against Spodoptera littoralis larvae and Tribolium castaneum adults with LC50 values of 55.99 and 97.43 µl/L air, respectively. The effect of the SoEO on seeds germination and growth showed different activities against radical and hypocotyl elongation of the tested species. These results suggest the potential use of the SoEO as natural antimicrobial preservative in cosmetic, pharmaceutical industry and in pest management.

Keywords: Salvia officinalis; antimicrobial activity; antioxidant; essential oil; insecticidal activity; phytotoxicity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Table 1
Table 1. Chemical composition of S. officinalis leaves essential oil
Table 2
Table 2. Antioxidant activity of S. officinalis essential oil determined by DPPH, FRAP and TBARS test systems
Table 3
Table 3. Antibacterial activity of the SoEO against bacteria and determination of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentrations (MBCs) expressed in mg/mL
Table 4
Table 4. Antifungal activity of the SoEO and determination of the MICs and Minimum Fungicidal Concentrations (MFCs) expressed in mg/mL
Figure 1
Figure 1. Fumigant activity of S. officinalis essential oil against Spodoptera littoralis larvae (♦) and Tribolium castaneum adults (■) at different concentrations
Figure 2
Figure 2. Germination percentages of T. aestivum, R. sativus, S. lycopersicum and T. foenum-graecum seedlings. (○) seeds treated with SoEO, (♦) seeds untreated with SoEO. The values in the graphs represent the mean of twenty fives replications ± standard error. Comparison of treated and untreated seeds by SoEO yielded a significant interaction (p < 0.01) between tested species and conditions (with or without SoEO).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Allelopathic effects of S. officinalis essential oil on T. aestivum, R. sativus, S. lycopersicum and T. foenum-graecum seedlings. (A) Radicle length, (B) Hypocotyls length, (C) Fresh radicle weight and (D) Fresh hypocotyls weight. The values in the graphs represent the mean of twenty fives replications ± standard error. Comparison of treated and untreated seeds tested by SoEO yielded a significant interaction (p < 0.01) between tested species and conditions (with or without SoEO).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdelgaleil SAM, Mohamed MIE, Badawy MEI, El-arami SAA. Fumigant and contact toxicities of monoterpenes to Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and their inhibitory effects on acetylcholinesterase activity. J Chem Ecol. 2009;35:518–25. - PubMed
    1. Adams RP. Quadrupole mass spectra of compounds listed in order of their retention time on DB-5. Identification of essential oils components by gas chromatography/quadrupole mass spectroscopy. Carol Stream, IL: Allured Publishing Corporation; 2001.
    1. Ben El Hadj Ali I, Chaouachi M, Bahri R, Chaieb I, Boussaïd M, Harzallah-Skhiri F. Chemical composition and antioxidant, antibacterial, allelopathic and insecticidal activities of essential oil of Thymus algeriensis Boiss. Et Reut. Ind Crop Prod. 2015;77:631–9.
    1. Bettaieb I, Zakhama N, Aidi Wannes W, Kchouk ME, Marzouk B. Water deficit effects on Salvia officinalis fatty acids and essential oils composition. Sci Hortic. 2009;120:271–5.
    1. Bouaziz M, Yangui T, Sayadi S, Dhouib A. Disinfectant properties of essential oils from Salvia officinalis L. cultivated in Tunisia. Food Chem Toxicol. 2009;47:2755–60. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources