Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the essential oils of two saltcedar species from tunisia

The chemical composition of the volatile constituents from the flowering parts of Suaeda fructicosa and Limonium echioides were analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Sixty-five compounds were identified in L. echioides aerial parts. 48 out of 65 were found common to the aerial part of S. fructicosa. Palmitic acid was found as a predominant compound in both tested halophytic oils. Furthermore, the essential oil was tested against six bacteria and four fungi at different concentrations. Both oils, tested at 0.5 and 0.8 mg ml(-1), inhibited the visible growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, but no antibacterial effect was detected against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Additionally, both halophytic oils failed to show antifungal activity against all the test fungi when applied at 80, 200 and 500 mu g/disc.