Acta Pharm. 56 (2006) 473-480

full paper

Short communication

Composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil from the fruits of Amomum cannicarpum

BABY SABULAL,¹ MATHEW DAN,² NEDIYAMPARAMBU SUKUMARAN PRADEEP,³ RENJU KRISHNA VALSAMMA³ and VARUGHESE GEORGE¹*

sabulal@gmail.com

¹Phytochemistry Division, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Pacha-Palode, Thiruvananthapuram-695 562, Kerala, India
²Horticulture and Garden Development Division, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Pacha-Palode, Thiruvananthapuram-695 562, Kerala, India
³Microbiology Division, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Pacha-Palode, Thiruvananthapuram-695 562, Kerala, India

Accepted October 5, 2006

Essential oil from the fruits of Amomum cannicarpum (Wight) Bentham ex Baker (Zingiberaceae), was hydrodistilled and characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major constituents in the oil were b-pinene (14.00%), elemol (10.45%) and a-cadinol (8.50%). Thirty-three (91.48%) out of forty-one constituents were identified by GC-MS and subsequent data analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the oil against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and some fungi were determined by the disc diffusion assay. The oil showed good antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris and very good antifungal activity against Candida albicans and C. glabrata.

Keywords: Amomum cannicarpum (Zingiberaceae), essential oil, GC-MS, b-pinene, elemol, a-cadinol, antibacterial activity, antifungal activity