Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) oil from cultivated and wild Tunisian populations and its antimicrobial activity

Cynara cardunculus L. is a perennial herb native of the Mediterranean basin, it is mainly used for food like vegetable and its seeds were rich in quality edible oil; Despite the use of this oil for the production of biodiesel in literature, the chemical composition and the antimicrobial activity of cardoon oil are not studied until now. Extraction and characterization of seed oil from six wild cardoon (C. cardunculus L. var. sylvestris) populations and a cultivated native cardoon (C. cardunculus L. var. altilis) in Tunisia were carried out, the values of seed oil content were greater to the cultivated cardoon (27 %) when compared with the six wild populations (18-26 %). The main fatty acids components obtained were: palmitic (11-13 %), oleic (23-40 %) and linoleic (40-61 %); In addition, we have tested the antimicrobial activity of these oils against three bacterial strains: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Enterocccus feacalis. The results showed that wild and cultivated cardoon oils are active against the three tested bacteria and an important antibacterial activity of cultivated cardoon seed oil (Inhibition zones: 6 +/- 0.57 and 16 +/- 1.00) compared to the wild one (Inhibition zones: 6 +/- 1.25 and 12 +/- 1.00), the cardoon oil can be considered as a potential antimicrobial agent for the treatment of some microbial infections.