Investigation of Phytochemical content, Antioxidant properties and Antibacterial Potential of Algerian <i>Bunium incrassatum</i>

The current study highlights the efficacy of tuber extracts from the Algerian medicinal plant Bunium incrassatatum for their phytochemical content, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Indeed, the ethanolic maceration method proved to be the most effective for phytochemical extraction, showing the highest yield extraction. Moreover, the ethanolic maceration displayed a higher polyphenol and flavonoid content compared to the methanolic extract. The antioxidant potentials of methanolic and ethanolic extracts of Bunium incrassatum were reported by the DPPH assay, revealing moderate efficacy of IC50 values of 380.53 µg/mL and 261.75 µg/mL, respectively, indicating that both of these extracts can be considered a good resource of natural antioxidants. In terms of antibacterial activity, the methanolic extract exhibited appreciable antimicrobial activities against different bacterial strains like Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli, with average zones of inhibition of 10.74 mm, 10.14 mm, 10.03 mm, and 9.45 mm, respectively. The present study underlined that the extracts from Bunium incrassatum tubers could be a rich raw material with an interesting profile in phytochemical content, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities, deserving further studies for applications in drug medicine, therapy, and nutrition.