Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Ferulago campestris (Besser)Grecescu growing in central Italy

ABSTRACT: Ferulago campestris (Besser) Grecescu (Apiaceae, synonym of F. galbanifera Koch), is one of the three species of the genus Ferulago occurring in Italy, where it is widely distributed all over the Peninsula. From ages past, Ferulago species have been used as spices and flavourings and in Turkish folk medicine as sedatives, tonics, digestive aids and in the treatment of intestinal worms and haemorrhoids. Moreover, root extracts of some Ferulago species were also used as aphrodisiacs, as well as those of Ferula. F. campestris was included in the so-called Corpus Hippocraticum, i.e. a collection of 62 treatises written by Hippocrates, as an ingredient of a potion used in gynaecologic afflictions. Essential oil from the flowers and leaves of F. campestris from two collection sites in central Italy was analysed by GC–FID and GC–MS and 134 constituents were identified and quantified by calculating the response factors of FID. Monoterpene hydrocarbons constituted the main fraction of the flower oils, with -pinene, myrcene and -terpinene as the major components. Sesquiterpenes gave the major contribution to the essential oils from the leaves, with the oxygenated components more abundant, -humulene, spathulenol and caryophyllene oxide being the most representative. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils from flowers and leaves were evaluated using a panel of human opportunistic pathogenic bacteria and fungi, by the agar disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods: Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Streptococcus mutans (DSM 20523), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Escherichia coli (ATCC 13706), and Candida albicans (ATCC 14053). Bacillus subtilis (MIC = 155–310 mg/ml) and Enterococcus faecalis (MIC = 310 mg/ml), and the Escherichia coli (MIC = 310–625 mg/ml) were found to be the most susceptible strains.