Antimicrobial activity of Satureja L. essential oils against phytopathogenic bacteria Erwinia amylovora

Abstract

In this paper, antimicrobial activity of S. kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuff., S. montana ssp. montana L., S. adamovicii Šilić and S. fukarekii Šilić has been investigated. During the testing, two methods were used: disc-diffusion and broth micro-dilution. The results showed high sensitivity of this bacteria to all four essential oils. The essential oil of S. montana ssp. montana exhibited the largest inhibition zone (25 mm), while S. adamovicii showed the highest inhibitory and bactericidal activity (MIC=MBC=0.09 μlml-1). All investigated oils showed the same values for MIC and MBC, which means that the oils posses bactericidal effect at very low concentrations and they could be used as non-harmful source of bactericides.

Keywords

• Genus Satureja L.
• essential oils
• antimicrobial activity
• Erwinia amylovora