Antimicrobial and insecticidal activities of essential oil isolated from Turkish Salvia hydrangea DC. ex Benth.

The hydrodistillated essential oil of Salvia hydrangea was analyzed by GC-MS. Fifty-four different components representing 95.9% of the compounds in the oil were identified. Camphor (54.2%), m-humulene (4.0%), cis-sesquisabinene hydrate (2.8%), myrtenol (2.6%), beta-bisabolol (2.2%) and 1,8-cineole (2. 1 %) were found to be predominant components. The oil was also characterized by relatively high amount of oxygenated monoterpenes (69.6%). The oil was tested for fungitoxic effects against 33 agricultural pathogenic fungi using in vitro microbial growth inhibition assays. The oil exhibited considerable antifungal activity against a broad spectrum of tested fungi. Antibacterial activity of the oil was determined against 30 bacterial strains using the disc diffusion method. The oil had a very wide spectrum of antibacterial activity. However, it was not as active as penicillin. The oil showed 68.3-75.0% mortality against adults of Sitophilus granarius and Tribolium confusum, the major pests of wheat and wheat products, respectively. It can be concluded that the oil of S. hydrangea has a potential against agricultural pathogenic fungi and two stored pests, S. granarius and T. confusum. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All fights reserved.