Keywords:

Medicinal and aromatic plants

Camel grass





Inhibition zones

Antimicrobial activity of Cymbopogon schoenanthus essential oil extracted by a solar distillation

system

Actividad antimicrobiana del aceite esencial de Cymbopogon schoenanthus

sistema de destilación solar

Atividade antimicrobiana do óleo essencial de Cymbopogon schoenanthus

de destilação solar

Zineb Safa



Khawla Zahra Hadef

Katia Djenadi

Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ). 2025, 42(2): e254227

ISSN 2477-9407

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47280/RevFacAgron(LUZ).v42.n2.XI

Crop production

Associate editor: Dra. Lilia Urdaneta









06 Adrar 01000, Adrar, Algeria.

      



Bejaia

Received: 25-02-2025

Accepted: 03-05-2025

285

Abstract

Cymbopogon schoenanthus (L.) Spreng is an aromatic medicinal

plant that grows in Algeria. It is commonly called camel grass and



        

the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Cymbopogon

schoenanthus       



       

 



         

         

yield was estimated to be 0.97 %, with a density of 0.8490 and

a refractive index of 1.4850. The antimicrobial properties of this

  Escherichia coli (EC)

and Klebsiella pneumoniae

inhibition diameters varying between 15 to 9 mm. On the other









of the





This scientic publication in digital format is a continuation of the Printed Review: Legal Deposit pp 196802ZU42, ISSN 0378-7818.

Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ). 2025, 42(2): e254227 April-June. ISSN 2477-9409.

2-6 |

Resumen

Cymbopogon schoenanthus (L.) Spreng 

         

de camello y se conoce con el nombre local de «Lemmad».

       

          

antimicrobiana del aceite esencial de Cymbopogon schoenanthus

       

          









las zonas de inhibición para determinar el alcance de la actividad





propiedades antimicrobianas de este aceite esencial (AE) mostraron

   Escherichia coli (EC) y Klebsiella pneumoniae



entre 15 y 9 mm. Por otra parte, otras cepas mostraron resistencia en

         





         



Palabras clave: plantas medicinales y aromáticas, hierba de camello,



Resumo

O Cymbopogon schoenanthus 

        

camelo e conhecida pelo nome local “Lemmad”. Tradicionalmente,

        



óleo essencial de Cymbopogon schoenanthus





determinadas as propriedades físicas. A atividade antimicrobiana



ágar

inibição foram medidas para determinar a extensão da atividade





propriedades antimicrobianas deste óleo essencial (OE) mostraram

Escherichia coli (EC) e Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP)







       



        



Palavras-chave: planta medicinal e aromática, erva-de-camelo,



Introduction

        

      





        

illnesses (Ekor

, 2014).

      

      





on one of these plants, Cymbopogon schoenanthus

L. (CS).

This plant, called camel grass, is known in Algeria as ‘Lemmad’

or ‘Tiberimt’. It is a perennial species that belongs to the Poaceae

          

essential oils (EOs) and a strong aromatic smell with important



 et al.,

2017; Bellik et al., et al., 2019; Sawadogo et al., 2022),

and antioxidants properties (Shaaban et al., 2012; Naima et al., 2016;

Malti et al.,et al., 2014; Yagi et

al.,et al., 2019).

           

as geographical conditions, seasonal variations, types of plant

         et

al., 2016). Among all these factors, it is clear that the extraction

         

      

distillation, mechanical expression, and solvent extraction

(Karakaya et al., 2014), as well as solar distillation (SD), which is





       et

al.,  

et

al.,

2021; Nannaware et al.,    

        

        

         





assay.

Materials and methods

Plant material

         

       



) 







of Adrar, Algeria.

Essential oil extraction process

         

intensity (ranging from 891.570 W.m

² to 10262.247 W.m

²), the EO





This scientic publication in digital format is a continuation of the Printed Review: Legal Deposit pp 196802ZU42, ISSN 0378-7818.

Safa et al. Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ). 2025, 42(2): e254227

3-6 |



shape (length 65 cm, width 56 cm, height 53 cm and 46 cm);

 

capacity;



(d).









For the extraction of the EO, 50 grams of dry plant material







          

condenser for phase change. After 6 h of distillation, the oil and water



        °C in hermetically

sealed amber bottles.



Yield % = (m

/ m

) x 100.

Where m

and m

are the masses of the extracted oils and the CS,



Essential oil’s physical properties



pycnometer at 20 °C

an Abbe refractometer at 20±1 °C (ISO, 1998).

Antimicrobial activity





Biological Material

Candida albicans ATCC

     Pseudomonas

aeruginosa

ATCC 27853 (PA), Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 13883

(KP), and

Escherichia coli 

  Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (SA). All



severe illnesses.

Inoculum Preparation

        



         



Well Difussion Assay

         

 

          



cells.mL

-1



    







°C for bacteria and 48 h at

37 .

Determining the sensitivity

    





et al. (2003):

• Non-sensitive (-) or less sensitive: diameter of 8 mm;

• Sensitive (+): diameter between 9-14 mm;

• 

• Extremely sensitive (+++): diameters >20 mm.

Statistical analysis

The  



          



comparison against the diameters of the zones of inhibition taken as





Figure 1. Localisation of Timiaouine region from Algeria.

Figure 2. Schematic of solar energy distillation system. (a):

      



This scientic publication in digital format is a continuation of the Printed Review: Legal Deposit pp 196802ZU42, ISSN 0378-7818.

Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ). 2025, 42(2): e254227 April-June. ISSN 2477-9409.

4-6 |

Results and discussion

The extraction yield



and penetrating with a strong odor. It was obtained with a yield of 0.97

% ± 0.13, which is similar to that reported by Sawadogo et al. (2022)

           

ranging between 1.11 % and 4.45 % (Khadri et al., 2008; Naima et

al., 2016; Yagi et al., et al., 2017; Bellik et al., 2019;

et al., 2019; Malti et al.,  Yen

and Lin (2017), Al-Hilphy

et al. (2022), and Nannaware et al. (2022)

showed that conventional and solar extractions provide comparable



et al. 

         

showed a better yield compared to the conventional method.

          

         

of the species (Sellami et al., 2009; Kpoviessi et al., 2014), the

geographical origin of the plant (Halla et al., 2020), environmental

  et al.,       

extraction methods (Sellami et al., 2009; Bellik et al., 2019). Notably,



depends on geographical location, weather conditions, regional

characteristics, and other parameters (Al-Hilphy et al., 2022).

Physical constants



revealed a density of 0.8490 and a refractive index of 1.4850, which

aligned with the standard norms of ISO and those reported by Katiki

et al.  et al.  et al. (2023).

         

while the refractive index ranged from 1.4820 to 1.4890. On the other

hand, the research of Bellik et al. (2019) and Al-Hilphy et al. (2022)





alterations in the chemical composition of the EO.





(Nannaware

et al., 2022).

Antimicrobial activity of EOCS







between the microbial strains tested. Therefore, the EOCS inhibited

         

ranging from 1/3 to 1/12, showing a zone of inhibition varying from

9 to 15 mm and 7 to 12 mm, respectively. Note that both EC and KP

recorded the highest diameter inhibition zones at the 1/3 concentration,



  

ranging from 8 mm to 14 mm for KP (Bellik

et al., 2019; Malti et

al., 2020) and from 10 mm to 19 mm for EC (Naima

et al., 2016;

Hashim et al., et al., 2019; Malti et al., 2020). Conversely,

Bellik

et al. (2019) showed that the EC was the most resistant strain,

with no zone of inhibition noted.

Figure 3. Antimicrobial activity of essential oil against strains. a:

E. coli, b: K. pneumoniae, c: P. aeruginosa, d: S. aureus,

e: C. albicans.

Table 1. Diameter of colony inhibition of microorganisms treated

with the dierent dilutions of Cymbopogon schoenanthus

essential oil.

Strain tested Types of

microorganisms

Diameter of inhibition zone (mm)

1/3 1/4 1/8 1/12

E. coli

ATCC 25922(A)

 15 (++) 13 (+) 10 (+) 9 (+)

K. pneumoniae

ATCC 13883 (B)

 12 (+) 9 (+) 7 (+) 7 (+)

P. aeruginosa

ATCC 27853(C)

 NA (-) NA (-) NA (-) NA (-)

S. aureus

ATCC 25932(C)

 NA (-) NA (-) NA (-) NA (-)

C. albicans

ATCC 14053 (C)

Yeast NA (-) NA (-) NA (-) NA (-)

*NA = No ; Inhibition zone diameter from 9-14 mm: (+); from 15-19 mm: (++); >20

 et al., 2003), R² = 0.998





(7 mm). At the 1/12 concentration, the essential oil exhibits less

antibacterial activity against EC (9 mm). This is consistent with

 et al. (2016) on rosemary EO,







        

inhibition zones varied from 12 mm to 38 mm for CA (Naima et

al., et al., 2019; Malti et al., 2020), 11 mm to 32 mm

for SA (Yagi et al., 2016; Naima et al., 2016; Hashim et al., 2017;

Bellik

et al., et al., 2019; Malti et al., 2020), and between 8

mm and 7 mm for PA

(Yagi et al., 2016; Malti et al., 2020). However,

Hashim et al. (2017) observed PA as the most resistant strain, and no



Reichling et al. 

        

       



This scientic publication in digital format is a continuation of the Printed Review: Legal Deposit pp 196802ZU42, ISSN 0378-7818.

Safa et al. Rev. Fac. Agron. (LUZ). 2025, 42(2): e254227

5-6 |







 

   

the entry of EO into these bacteria inhibits the formation of DNA,



        

       

(Bakkali et al.,

    

         

         

 

et al., 2016), and the

extraction method (Wojdylo et al.,

of antimicrobial activity for certain strains may be explained

          

 

et al., 2019;

Malti et al., 2020).





antibacterial activity.

        

      

          



Conclusion

    



        

EC and KP. This is a positive point for its potential domestication.





          

conventional and SD methods.

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