Chemical Composition, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of the Essential Oil from Needles of Pinus parviflora Siebold & Zucc.

The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from fresh needles ofPinus parviflorawith the yield of 0.16 % was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and thirty-five compounds accounting for the total 96.34 % of the oil were identified. The essential oil was rich in monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, dominated by (+)-α-pinene (20.72 %), bornyl acetate (19.74 %), germacrene D (13.89 %) and β-caryophyllene (11.74 %). Antibacterial activities of the extracted oil were evaluated against seven food spoilage bacteria. The results showed that the extracted oil was effective against most of the strains using the agar disk diffusion method. The broth microdilution bioassay indicated thatBacillus subtiliswas the most sensitive strain with the minimum inhibitory concentration of 3.75 mg/ml. Moreover, the isolated essential oil was tested for antioxidant activities. It revealed prevailing hydroxyl radical scavenging ability over mannitol with IC values of 6.35 and 13.16 mg/ml for the oil and the positive control respectively. It was suggested that the essential oil derived fromP. parviflorahad a potential to be used as bactericide and antioxidant in food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]