ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECTS OF CITRUS LIMON AND LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA ESSENTIAL OILS

Abstract

Essential oils have been largely used for their antibacterial, antifungal and insecticidal properties. Thus this study evaluated the in vitro antibacterial activity of essential oils from lemon and lavender on 30 bacterial strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus either isolated from animals (cows and sheep) or obtained from reference strains provided by the Biotechnology and Animal Reproduction from the Laboratory of the Institute of Veterinary Sciences from Blida. The sensitivity of the strains was tested in vitro by aromatogram, using the two essential oils separately as well as their associations. Our results showed that lemon essential oil had a bacteriostatic effect on the tested strains of E. coli, while a high percentage of them was extremely sensitive to lavender oil, and more than half ones were extremely sensitive to the oil blend at a concentration of 100µl/disc. As for S. aureus, all the tested strains were extremely sensitive to the two essential oils as well as to their association. Lavender and/or lemon essential oils proved effective against strains of E. coli and S. aureus