BACTERICIDAL AND FUNGICIDAL ACTIVITY OF THE WILD THYME (Thymus serpyllum) ESSENTIAL OIL

Abstract

The aim of this study was to in vitro determine the antimicrobial activity of essential oil obtained from wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) against three test microorganisms representing species: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. The research was carried out using the disk diffusion assay. The activity of TSL oil was analyzed at various concentrations ranging from 200 μL/mL to 2.0 μL/mL, assessing the diameters of zones of inhibited growth. After averaging the obtained values, the range of antimicrobial activity of TSL was determined based on reference data. TSL essential oil showed only moderate inhibitory activity against S. aureus and E. coli at concentrations of 200 and 125 μL/mL, and a large inhibitory effect against C. albicans at concentrations of 200, 125 and 62.5 μL/mL and moderate at a concentration of 31.2 μL/mL. On this basis, the MIC value was determined for the C. albicans test strain of 62.5 μL/mL, considering it the most effective. In addition, it was found that carvacrol-one of the major components of TSL-can show strong growth inhibitory effects in both fungi and bacteria selected species.