Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil Extracted from waste of Juniperus communis L. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Industry in Albania

The Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) industry is relevant for Albania covering approximately 20% of agricultural exports. Mostly high quality dried parts of MAPs are traded, while products not fulfilling quality criteria and non-tradable plant parts are often regarded as waste products, even though they contain valuable bioactive substances. This study evaluates the composition and biological activity of the essential oil (EO) fraction of wastes generated from the MAPs industy of Juniperus communis L. in Albania. Juniperus communis L. was collected from Korçë area, dried, screened for trade quality berries in an industrial plant for MAPs, and the waste parts underwent hidrodistilation in industrial distilators. Chemical composition was performed using Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry and identified 50 compounds, where main components were α-Pinene (24.47%), Sabinene (12.4%), Germacrene D (3.2%) and β-Myrcene (1.6%). The antioxidant capacity of J. communis L. EO was determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and expressed as Inhibitory Concentration of 50% of the free radical (IC50) where values were IC50= 155.4 µg/mL and IC50= 163.2µg/mL for DPPH and ABTS respectively. Antimicrobial activity of J. communis L. EO was determined against five bacteria, Escherichia coli ATCC 10535; Salmonella enteritidis, ATCC 49223, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ATCC 9027; Micrococcus luteus, ATCC 10240; Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, ATCC 1363;and one yeast, Candida albicans, ATCC 10231 by microdilution method used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The EO showed no antimicrobial activity against the first 3 bacterial strains, while it inhibited growth of Micrococcus luteus and Candida albicans at concentrations of 2.5 mg/mL and of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia at the maximum tested concentration of 5 mg/mL.