Essential Oil Composition and Antibacterial Activity of Flowers of Achillea filipendulina
Achillea filipendulina is an aromatic plant of family Asteraceae with bright yellow colour flowers. The objective of the study was to extract the essential oil from the flowers of the selected plant using Clevenger apparatus, to analyse the chemical composition of the oil using GC-MS and to screen the essential oil for its antibacterial property against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. GC-MS results revealed that the main chemical constituents present in the oil were trans 2,7 Dimethyl 4,6 octadien-2-ol (27.93%), borneol (21.44%) and santolina triene (7.13%). The results of agar well diffusion assay revealed that the oil showed antibacterial activity against all the tested bacteria except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oil was determined against the sensitive bacteria. MIC values against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were similar (0.312% v/v) and for Bacillus cereus, MIC value was found to be (0.156%). Results indicated the great antibacterial potential of oil of this plant against gram positive and gram negative bacteria.