Free Journal of - Chemical composition of commercial citrus fruit essential oils and evaluation of their antimicrobial activity acting alone or in combined processes




Chemical composition of commercial citrus fruit essential oils  and evaluation of their antimicrobial activity acting alone or  in combined processes

Laura  Espina, María Somolinos, Susana Lorán,  Pilar  Conchello, Diego  García, Rafael  Pagán*

Producción Animal y Ciencia de  los  Alimentos, Facultad de  Veterinaria, Universidad de  Zaragoza, C/Miguel Servet, 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain


a b s t r a c t  

The  present investigation reports on  the chemical composition of three commercial citrus fruit essential oils  (orange  [Citrus sinensis], lemon  [Citrus lemon] and  Mandarin  [Citrus reticulata])  from Spain, and examines their antimicrobial activity against spoiling and pathogenic microorganisms, as well as possible synergistic lethal effects in  combination with mild heat. Gas  chromatography-mass spectrometry anal- ysis  allowed for  the identification of  65  compounds as  main volatile constituents. Limonene was the major component in the three essential oils (59e85%). Preliminary results obtained by using the disc  agar diffusion technique indicated mandarin EO as the best growth inhibitor and discarded orange and lemon essential oils. The evaluation of the bacteriostatic and bactericide effect confirmed the broadest spectrum of action to be  that of the mandarin essential oil. However, low concentrations of the three essential oils
(0.2  ml/ml) in  combination with a mild heat treatment (54   C/10  min) showed synergistic lethal effects,
inactivating more than 5 log  cycles of bacterial cells, and demonstrating their potential in  the design of successful combined treatments for  food preservation.


  2010 Elsevier Ltd.  All rights reserved.

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