Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil of<i>Ononis natrix</i>from Morocco

Abstract

Abstract The wild samples of Ononis natrix were collected in Guelmim region (south of Morocco) during June 2006. The plant samples were distillated by Clevenger apparatus and the obtained essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The yield obtained varies greatly with a range of 0.7 to 1.3 %. A total of 63 compounds, amounting 93.3 % of the total oils were identified. The major components of Ononis natrix essential oils were farnesyl acetone (27.3 %), geranyl acetone (20.3 %), thymol (13.7 %) and camphor (5.5 %).The antibacterial activity of the essential oil was evaluated against several strains and was shown to be significant against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922).