Chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of essential oil from Echinophora cinerea harvested at two phenological stages.

Echinophora cinerea(Apiaceae) grows wild in the Zagros Mountains range, located in Iran. The herb has been used as a food additive in traditional preparations such as pickles. This study determined the chemical composition and biological activity of essential oils in the aerial parts ofE. cinereacollected from three natural habitats at two phenological stages. The essential oils constituents were determined by GC-FID and GC/MS. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was evaluated againstBacillus cereus,Listeria monocytogenes,Proteus vulgaris, andSalmonella typhimuriumandCandida albicans. The highest oil yield obtained fromE. cinereawas 2.05%w/w dry matter harvested from plants at the full flowering stage. Major essential oil constituents were α-phellandrene (42.40 to 54.87%), α-pinene (12.28 to 25.54%), and β-phellandrene (10.29 to 11.08%).The essential oils ofE. cinereaharvested at the full flowering stage of growth had the highest antimicrobial activity. The antioxidant activity ofE. cinereaindicated the oil acted as an effective DPPH scavenger. The IC50values ranged from 1.97 mg/mL to 2.25 mg/mL for the essential oils as compared with the 0.412 mg/mL for BHT. The antimicrobial properties of the essential oils obtained from E. cinereamay be significant from a pharmaceutical standpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]