Composition and antimicrobial screening of the essential oil of lemon grass Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) from Egypt [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Lemon grass, Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) is a perennial grass that grows spontaneously around the world, mainly in the tropical regions. The present worlc reports the antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from C. citrates as well as the content of its essential oil. Two Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Streptomyces spp.); one Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli 0157; five fungal strains (Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Rhizoctonia solani, Macrophomina phaseolina and Aspergillus niger) and three yeasts (Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were used for evaluation of antimicrobial properties of C. citrates essential oil. The disc diffusion method was used to evaluate the zone of growth inhibition at various concentrations of the oil. It can be concluded that essential oil of C. citrates has activities against Gram¬ positive bacterium (B. subtilis), two fungal strains (M. phaseolina and A. niger) and a yeast (S. cerevisiae) more than against Gram-negative bacterium, E. coli 0157, and Candidal strains. The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation was analysed by GCMS and the resulting oil contained geranial (43.08%), citral (38.96%) and myrcene (11.22%) being the main constituents, which may provide the antimicrobial properties of the essential oil against tested organisms. Keywords: Cymbopogon citrates, Essential oil, Antimicrobial activity, Bacteria, Fungi, Yeast, Chemical composition, GC/MS analysis.

Summary in Arabic.

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