Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Salvia officinalis L. and Salvia virgata Jacq

The genus Salvia (commonly known as sage) is a broad genus belonging to the family Lamiaceae. This study is aimed at assessing the essential oil composition and antimicrobial activities of two Salvia species. The chemical composition of the essential oils of Salvia officinalis L. and Salvia virgata Jacq, cultivated in Estahban (Fars, South Iran), was studied by means of GC-MSanalyses. Antimicrobial activity was tested against a panel of microorganisms including one Gram-positive (Staphylococcus epidermidis PTCC NO. 1435) and one Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and three fungal strain (Alternaria alternata PTCC NO. 5224, Penicillium funiculosum PTCC NO. 5301 and P. funiculosum PTCC NO. 5169) using the disk diffusion and agar-well diffusion methods and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) technique. In all, 57 compounds were identified, 42 for S. officinalis, accounting for 98.94% ofthe total oil, 29 for S. virgata (98.81%). The major components of S. officinalis essential oil were α-thujone (37.18%), 1,8-cineole (12.71%), β-thujone (9.10%) and the major components of S. virgata essential oil were caryophyllene oxide (30.23%), β-caryophyllene (22.63%), sabinene (11.82%). The antimicrobial activity of the total essential oil evaluated by the agar-well diffusion method, the results showed that the highest active against S. epidermidis and also the least active against E. coli. Inhibition of growth was tested by the disk diffusion method, the results showed that essential oil of S. officinalis and S. virgata were highest active against E. coli and P. funiculosum (PTCC NO. 5301), respectively. Also the least active against A. alternata. The results showed thatS. officinalis oil had higher antimicrobial activity compare to S. virgata