Determination of chemical composition and preliminary assessment of antibacterial activity of Java Citronella essential oil (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt.) in Tay Giang district, Quang Nam province

Abstract

For a long time, lemongrass has been used to treat flu and common colds. There have been a number of domestic and foreign studies on the chemical composition and biological activities of this species. However, there are still no reports on the chemical composition and antibacterial activity of lemongrass grown in Tay Giang district, Quang Nam province, Vietnam. The aim of this research is to determine the chemical composition of Tay Giang lemongrass essential oil using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and initially evaluate the antibacterial ability of three bacterial strains of Tay Giang lemongrass essential oil (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt.): B. subtilis, Salmonella, and E. coli by agar disk diffusion method. The analysis results identified 26 constituents in the composition of Tay Giang lemongrass essential oil with three main components being citronellal (48.84%), citronellol (9.73%), and geraniol (19.75%). Furthermore, the study showed that Tay Giang lemongrass essential oil exhibited antibacterial activity on two strains, B. subtilis and E. coli with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 48.15 mg/ml, in which the antibacterial activity is stronger on strain E.coli and did not show antibacterial activity on Salmonella strain. These results contribute to creating more applications for Tay Giang lemongrass essential oil, exploiting the potential and enhancing the value of this plant.