Antimicrobial activity of essential oil from Pinus yunnanensis Franch.var tenuifolia growing in China

摘要

The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from needles of Pinus yunnanensis Franch.var tenuifolia was investigated. The essential oil was obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The major compound of the essential oil was α-pinene (22.542%), followed by β-caryophyllene (16.636%), 1,2,4a,5,8,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-naphthalene (5.085%), β-cubebene (4.779%), elixene (4.442%), α-cadinol (3.528%),α-caryophyllene (3.459%) and limonene (3.428%). The antimicrobial activity of oil was evaluated by using disc diffusion and agar dilution methods, respectively. The results indicated that the essential oil held moderate antimicrobial activity against tested microorganisms. The essential oil did not differ remarkably in its antibacterial and antifungal activities. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were 40 ml/l for bacterial strains, and 80 ml/l for fungal strains.