Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil from Crithmum maritimum Cultivated in Tunisia

Crithmum maritimum L., a species original from France and cultivated in Tunisia arid zones. In this study, we interested to the chemical composition and biological activities of essential oils from different parts of Crithmum maritimum L., . Theses oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by ABTS tests and the antibacterial activity was tested using the diffusion method. Yellow oils were obtained with yields ranging between 0.28 % and 3.60 %. Our results showed that essential oils of different plant parts were mainly composed by dillapiole (2.39 to 41.35 %), thymyl methyl ether (20.13 to 34.75 %), p-cymene (4.83 to 22.08 %) and -terpinene (22.54 to 43.29 %). Evaluation of antioxidant activity showed that the oils of flowers exhibited the most important antioxidant potential oils of flowers, leaves, seeds were the most active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus epidermidis, respectively. The essential oil of seeds was the most active against Staphylococcus aureus with an inhibition zone diameter of 18 +/- 0.5mm. This study can contribute to provide useful data in understanding the impact of culture of Crithmum maritimum on chemical composition and biological effects of its essential oil and further studies should be conducted to achieve this goal.