Chemical Composition and Bioactivity of Essential Oils of Seed and Leaf from Foeniculum vulgare Mill cultivated in Southeast of Morocco

Abstract

Analysis of essential oils obtained from the seeds and leaves of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. cultivated in southeast of Morocco revealed that trans-anethole was the major constituent (54.67% in seed oil and 50.60% in leaf oil), followed by estragol (35.33% in seed oil and 30.15% in leaf oil). Other components present in leaf oil included fenchone, linalool and ?-pinene, while seed oil contained fenchone, limonene and ?-terpinen. Besides, minor constituents like camphene, camphor, myrcene, pahllandrene, fenchyl acetate and ?-bisabolene were obtained from seeds and leaves.

The essential oils of the seeds and leaves of Foeniculum vulgare were assayed for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The seed oil show remarkable antioxidant effect, while the leaf oil exhibits a strong broad spectrum antibacterial activity against all test organisms.

Keywords: F. vulgare, essential oil, antibacterial, antioxidant, chemical composition.