Investigations of biological activities of Malva sylvestris L. aqueous extracts

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in biological compounds as alternatives to synthetic antioxidants, insecticides, and antimicrobials agents. In the present study, different aqueous leaf and flowers extracts of Malva sylvestris were investigated for their polyphenolic, flavonoid and condensed tannins contents, antioxidant, antibacterial and insecticidal activities. M. sylvestris leaves revealed the best radical scavenging capacity (IC50=75.05 µg/ml) which can be due to their highest total phenol, flavonoid and condensed tannins contents (16.33 mgGAE.g-1DW, 8.74 mgER.g-1DW, 2.92 mgCE.g-1DW). However, the evaluation of the antibacterial activity against three pathogenic bacteria revealed that flowers extracts exhibited the highest activity. A moderate insecticidal activity was revealed against Aphis gossypii. The variation of the biological activities among tested organs was linked to that of phenolic composition.