Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Thymus vulgaris L. Essential Oil Growing Wild in Tunisia

The aim of this work is to investigate the chemical composition, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of Tunisian Thymus vulgaris essential oil (TVEO). DPPH, superoxide anion, reducing power, chelating effect on ferrous ions and β-Carotene assays have been employed to determine the antioxidant potential of TVEO. In contrast, 24 reference bacterial strains and 16 fungal strains have been used for the assessment of the antimicrobial activity. Results revealed that TVEO has as carvacrol (67.33%) chemotype, it was equipped with an important antioxidant capacity that is better (P<0.05) than synthetic antioxidants (BHT, BHA, Vitamin C and EDTA) except for superoxide anion test. A higher antimicrobial activity was also observed with IZ, MIC and MBC values of bacterial strains were ranged from 10.33±0.57 to 37.33±0.57mm; 0.019 to 0.078 mg/mL and 0.039 to 0.31 mg/mL respectively. But those of fungal strains were varied between 24.66±1-47.33±1.53 mm; 0.004-0.078 mg/mL and 0.019-0.15 mg/mL respectively. In summary, the obtained data makes TVEO as a good and suitable candidate for its use in food and pharmaceutical purposes.