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Chemical Composition and Evaluation of Tagetes erecta (Var.
Pusa Narangi Genda) Essential Oil for its Antioxidant and
Antimicrobial Activity
BRIJESH TRIPATHI, ROHIT BHATIA, SURESH WALIA*, BIRENDRA KUMAR
Division of Agricultural Chemicals, Indian Agricultural Research Institute
New Delhi-110 012, India
————————————————————————
Biopestic. Int. 8(2): 000-000 (2012)
ABSTRACT The essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts (leaves, flowers
and shoots) of Tagetes erecta (Var.Pusa Narangi Genda) of Asteraceae family, was analyzed
by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and evaluated for antimicrobial and antioxidant
properties. In the aerial part extract forty three constituents were identified, representing more
than 83% of the total detected. The major components were identified as cis-ocimene (18.46%),
(E)-oscimene (8.65%), l-limonene (11.16%), (E)-tagetone (10.56%), β-caryophyllene (6.9%) and
dl-limonene (4.16%). The essential oil was evaluated in vitro for antioxidant activity using
specific assays. A significant antioxidant and radical scavenging activity was observed. The
oil also exerted significant antifungal activity against the phytopathogenic fungi, Rhizoctonia
solani, Sclerotium rolfsii and Macrophamina phaseolina and antibacterial activity against
Xanthomonas oryzae, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
KEY WORDS :Tagetes erecta; Essential Oil; GC-MS; Antioxidant; Antibacterial; Antifungal.
————————————————————————
0973-483X/08/15-21©2008 (KRF)
(09)
INTRODUCTION
Tagetes erecta L. (Asteraceae) is a large
flowered annual herbaceous plant commonly known
as American marigold or African marigold. It is native
to the southwestern United States, Mexico, South
America, Africa and India. The ornamental plant is
well known for its decorative flowers and a wide
range of biological activities (Singh et al., 2003). In
India the area under marigold cultivation is around
20,825 ha with a production of more than 2 lakh
tonnes. It is extensively grown in Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, UP, etc. and
exported to several countries. The aerial parts of
marigold are rich source of essential oil (EO). While
the flower is rich in lutein content, the roots
reportedly contain á-terthineyl (α-T) and substituted
acetylenes and thiophenes. In an earlier study
tagetone was identified as a major constituent in
steam distilled Tagetes patula EO (Igolen, 1936).
Latter on major constituents in the T. patula essential
oil were identified as l-limonene, δ-cadinene, dl-α-
cadinol, α-terpinolene, piperitone, ocimene, α-
caryophyllene, piperitone, piperitenone and tagetone
(Krishna et al., 2002). In another study limonene
(6.2%), dihydrotagetone (6.2%), (E)-tagetone (2.5%),
p-cymene-8-ol (11.0%), piperitone (10.6%),
piperitenone (8.1%) and (E)-sesquisabinene hydrate
(12.5%) were identified as the major constituents
(Vidyasagar et al., 2005). Interestingly headspace
analysis of living and plucked capitula at different
time intervals have provided different volatile
composition (Prakash et al., 2012). Further, EO from
T. minuta capitula (0.09% yield) reportedly contain
22 compounds (Basal et al., 1999). EO from T. erecta,
2 Biopesticides International Vol. 8, no. 2
cultivated in Iran, contains 34 constituents in flower
oil; the major constituents being β-caryophyllene (8.5
and 35.2%), terpinolene (18.4 and 6.3%), (E)-
ocimenone (12.6 and 9.8%), (Z)-β-ocimene (10.4 and
13.7%), piperitenone (10.4 and 2.6%), (Z)-ocimenone
(5.5 and 7.7%) and limonene (6.2 and 2.5%) in leaf
and stem and flower oils, respectively (Sefidkon et
al., 2004). The flower essential oil exhibited
antioxidant activity in vitro (Gutierrez et al., 2006).
The leaf essential oil was non-phytotoxic and
exhibited complete inhibition of growth of the
damping-off pathogen Pythium aphanidermatum.
The activity was comparable to synthetic fungicides
captan, agrosan G.N. and dithane Z-78 (Kishore et
al., 1991).
Tagetes erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) is a
very popular Indian variety developed at Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. It
is known for its distinct colour and flower size and
produces deep orange flowers with ruffled florets. It
has been developed from the cross of Cracker Jack
and Golden Jubilee varieties and has been released
in 1995 for commercial use in India. Owing to big
flower size and attractive colour it is very popular in
India. It has an average yield of 25–30 tonnes/ha of
fresh flowers with 100–125 kg/ha of seeds. It starts
flowering in 125–135 days after sowing. It has been
found to be rich in carotenoids (51.07 kg/ha) and
widely used in poultry industry, food, pharmaceutical
and nutraceuticals industries (Chendrasekhara et el.,
2005). Since limited work has been done on chemical
composition and biological properties of this
economically useful variety, the present study aims
at extraction of the essential oil of leaf, flower and
combined aerial parts (leaf, shoot, twigs) of T. erecta
(Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) and its evaluation for
antimicrobial and antioxidant activity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Chemicals and Reagents
Quercetin, gallic acid, TPTZ (2, 4, 6-tri [2-pridyl]-
s-triazine), ferrous sulphate, ferric chloride, 1, 1-di-
phenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and tryptone soya
agar were procured from (Sigma Aldrich). Glacial
acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, hexane, methanol, Tris
buffer and sodium acetate were procured from Merck
India Ltd. Ready-made potato-dextrose-agar (PDA)
medium was purchased from (Hi-Media Lab, New
Delhi).
Plant Material
Tagetes erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) plant
material was obtained from seed production unit of
the Division of Seed Science & Seed Tech. IARI,
New Delhi.
Fungal and Bacterial Cultures
Fungal culture of R. solani (ITCC 4502), S. rolfsii
(ITCC 6263) and M. phaseolina (ITCC 6267) and a
bacterial culture of Xanthomonas oryzae (ITCC B-
47) were obtained from Indian type culture collection,
Division of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi,
India. Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 3160),
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2581) and
Klebsiella pneumoniae (MTCC 7028) were procured
from microbial type culture collection and gene bank,
Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.
Extraction of Essential Oil
The fresh leaves, flowers and aerial parts (leaves
and shoots) of T. erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda)
were cut into small pieces. The fresh cut material
was subjected to hydro- distillation for 5 h in a
Clevenger apparatus. The light yellow colored
essential oil was collected from Clevenger apparatus.
The essential oil was dried over anhydrous sodium
sulfate and stored in sealed vials at low temperature
(4°C) before analysis. The yield of the hydro-distilled
oil in different plant parts ranged from 0.65–0.70%
on fresh weight basis.
Analysis
All spectrophotometric measurements were
made with a pairs of matched quartz cuvettes using
Analyticjena UV-Vis spectrophotometer (SPCORD
200)R. GC was carried out on Agilent 7890A GC
system fitted with HP-5 (30 m × 0.180 mm, i.d. 0.18µ)
equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID). The
oven column temperature was ranged from 40–270°C,
programmed at 50°C for 5 min, gradually increased
2012 Tripathi et al. : Antioxidant and antimicrobial essential oil from Tagetes erecta 3
@ 2°C/min to 140°C and retained at this temperature
for 5 min than finally @ 10°C/min to 270°C and held
for 5 min using H2 as carrier gas at 1 ml/min constant
flow with splitless mode. The injector and detector
(FID) temperatures were 230°C and 255°C,
respectively. The relative percentage of different
constituents was determined on the basis of peak
area normalization method without using the
correction factor.
GC-MS analysis was performed in Agilent 7890A
GC system interfaced to an Agilent 5975C inert XI
EI/CI MSD with triple axis Qudrapole mass
spectrometer fitted with HP-5 (30 m × 0.25 mm, i.d.
0.25 µm,) capillary columns. The oven temperature
programme was the same as that described in GC-
FID. Helium at a flow rate of 1 ml/min was used as a
carrier gas. Injector and interface temperatures were
230°C and 255°C, respectively. EI mass spectra were
recorded at 70 eV ionization voltage over the mass
range 40–400 amu. Samples (0.1 µl of oil solutions
1:10 in hexane) were injected by pulsed splitless
injection. Compound identification was based on the
comparison of retention time, retention indices
[determined relatively to the retention times of
homologus n-alkanes (C8–C24) series] mass scan
spectra as well as comparison with literature data
and computer library search (W9N08.L) using a mass
spectral library. The relative percentage amount of
the separated compounds was calculated from total
ion chromatograms by a computerized integrator.
Antioxidant Activity Evaluation
DPPH free radical scavenging activity
The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was
assessed by free radical scavenging effect of 1, 1-
diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The working
solutions of the test extracts and standards were
prepared in methanol. Querctin and gallic acid (1–
100 µg/ml) solution was used as standard Methanol
(1 ml) with DPPH solution (0.1 mM, 1 ml) was used
as blank. Different concentrations (5, 10, 50 and 100
µg/ml) of essential oil sample were pipetted to the
test tubes and volume adjusted to 3 ml with methanol.
One ml of DPPH (0.1 mM) solution was mixed with 1
ml of sample and standard solution separately. The
samples were vortexed, and incubated in dark at room
temperature for 30 min. The absorbance was
measured at 517 nm against blank samples in a
spectrophotometer. Decreased absorbance of the
sample indicates DPPH free radical scavenging
capability (Gulcin et al., 2004). The optical density
was recorded and radical scavenging activity was
expressed as percentage inhibition of DPPH radical
and was calculated by following equation
Inhibition (%) = [Absorbance of control –
(Absorbance of sample ÷ Absorbance of control] ×
100 Extract concentration providing 50% inhibition
(IC50) was calculated from the graph plotted between
inhibition percentages against extract concentration.
Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)
The FRAP assay uses antioxidant as reductants
in a redox- linked calorimetric method, using an easily
reduced oxidant system present in stochiometric
excess (Benzie et al., 1996). FRAP reagent solution
was prepared by mixing following reagents (a, b and
c) in the ratio of 10:1:1 at the time of use.
a) Acetate buffer (300 mM, pH 3.6) was
prepared by dissolving 3.1 g sodium acetate
in 16 ml of glacial aceteic acid and making
the volume to 1l with distilled water.
b) TPTZ (2, 4, 6-tripridyl-s-triazine) reagent was
prepared by mixing 10 mM in 40 mM HCl
(20 ml).
c) FeCl3.6H2O 20 mM (20 ml total volume).
Distilled water was used as blank and for control.
Gallic acid (GA) and quercetin hydrate (QH) (5–100
µg/ml) were used as standard antioxidants. 1 ml of
the sample and the standard (5–100 µg/ml) was mixed
with 1 ml of FRAP reagent and absorbance (593 nm)
was measured at 0 min and again after 4 min at 593
nm. Increased absorbance indicated ferric reducing
capability of the sample (Benzie et al., 1996).
CUPRAC assay
CUPRAC reagent solution was prepared by
mixing 1 ml of 1.0 × 10-2 M copper (II) chloride, 1 ml
of 7.5 × 10-3 M neocuprine solution and 1 ml of
ammonium acetate buffer at pH 7.0. Sample solution
(x ml) and distilled water (1 - x) were added and well
4 Biopesticides International Vol. 8, no. 2
mixed to obtain a total volume of 4.0 ml. The
absorbance of the Cu (I)-chelate was measured at
450 nm. The final mixture in a stoppered test tube
was kept at room temperature for 30 min and the
absorbance measured against a reagent blank at 450
nm.
Antifungal Activity Assay
Antifungal assay was carried out by poisoned
food technique using potato-dextrose-agar (4% PDA)
medium (Shukla et al., 2012) against three
phytopathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani,
Sclerotium rolfsii and Macrophamina phaseolina
at different concentrations ranging from 2000 to 31.25
ppm. 200 mg and 100 mg of Test compounds were
accurately measured (100 and 200 mg) and dissolved
in 2 ml of methanol. Each solution (1 ml) was added
to 50 ml of PDA medium in two separate flasks and
mixed properly to give 2000 and 1000 mg/l
concentrations. The medium was then poured into
two Petri plates under aseptic conditions in a laminar
flow chamber. In the same way other concentrations
(1500, 1250, 500, 125, 62.5 and 31.25 mg/l) were
prepared by serial dilution process and poured in
Petri plates separately. Methanol (1 ml) was mixed
properly with 50 ml of medium and poured in two
Petri plates which served as control.
A 5 mm thick disc of fungus (spore and
mycelium) was placed at the centre of the medium in
the test Petri plate and the plates were kept in BOD
incubator at 28 ± 1°C till the fungal growth in the
control dishes was completed (6–10 days). The
mycelial growth (cm) in both treated (T) and control
(C) Petri-plates was measured diametrically in three
different directions. From the mean growth of above
readings, percentage inhibition of growth (I) was
calculated by using the following equation:
Growth inhibition (I%) = [(T - C) ÷ C] × 100
EC50 (effective concentration for 50% inhibition
of mycelial growth) were calculated from the percent
inhibition (IC) as follows:
IC = [( I% - C.F.) ÷ (100 - C.F.)] × 100
C.F. (Correction Factor) = [(90 - C) ÷ C] × 100
Where, 90 is the diameter of the Petri dishes in
(mm) and C is the growth of the fungus (mm) in
control. EC50 (mg/l) was calculated from the
concentration (mg/l) and corresponding IC data of
each compound with the help of statistical package
(GW BASIC)
Antibacterial Activity Assay
Antibacterial activity was evaluated by
determining the minimum inhibitory concentration
(MIC) using the broth dilution method (Senatore et
al., 2004). Four bacteria were selected as
representatives of Gram-positive bacteria,
Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 3160), and Gram-
negative bacteria, Klebsiella pneumonia (MTCC
7028), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2581) and
Xanthomonas oryzae (ITCC B-47)] species. Tryptone
soya agar was used to maintain the bacterial strains
and tryptone soya broth was used for counducting
antimicrobial tests. Essential oil emulsions were
prepared with dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) in a ratio
1:10 to facilitate the dispersion of the oils in the
aqueous nutrient medium. Each strain was tested
separately with each sample, diluted in broth to
obtain concentrations ranging from 100 to 0.8 µg/ml.
The samples were filter sterilized using a 0.45 µm
Milipore filter before use. Each test broth was stirred,
inoculated with 100 µl of bacterial suspension
containing 5 × 106 microbial cells in Tris buffer and
incubated for 24 h at 37°C. The MIC of the sample
was determined at the lowest concentration that did
not permit any visible growth of the tested micro
organism after incubation. Broth containing DMSO
but no essential oil was not toxic to any of the
microorganisms. Cultures containing only sterile Triss
buffer were used as positive controls.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The EO was extracted by hydrodistillation of
the fresh flowers, leaves and the aerial parts. The
components are listed (Table 1) in order of their
elution on the HP-5 column. The percentage of the
essential oil extracted from different plant parts
ranged between (0.4–0.7%) on fresh weight basis.
GC-MS analysis resulted in the identification of forty
three compounds. While cis-ocimene (18.46%), (E) -
oscimene (8.65%), l-limonene (8.63%), (E) - tagetone
(10.56%), dl-limonene (4.16%), and piperitone (3.56%)
2012 Tripathi et al. : Antioxidant and antimicrobial essential oil from Tagetes erecta 5
Table 1. GC-MS analysis of essential oil extracted from the Tagetes erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda)
aerial parts
Compound Retention Retention Essential oil yield (%)
Time (Min) Index Flower Leaves Aerial part
α-Pinene 9.08 941 - 0.37 0.16
Sabinene 10.27 975 - 0.15 0.88
β-Pinene 10.35 976 - - 0.19
β-Myrcene 10.77 993 - 0.11 0.13
n-Decane 11.02 1000 - 0.33 -
p-Cymene 11.79 1020 - 0.07 0.12
l-Limonene 11.96 1030 11.16 8.63
dl-Limonene 11.92 1031 0.36 1.51 4.16
cis-Ocimene 12.19 1040 0.24 12.1 18.46
(E)-Ocimene 12.50 1050 1.81 3.45 8.65
γ-Terpinene 12.87 1062 - - 0.54
á-Terpinolene 13.73 1078 0.98 0.24 0.04
n-Undecane 14.03 1100 0.53 0.49 -
p-Mentha-1,3,8-triene 16.86 1112 - - 0.45
Allo-oscimine 17.20 1129 - - 0.81
(E)- Tagetone 17.64 1149 - 4.58 10.56
Borneol 18.11 1168 - - 0.48
p- Cymene-8-ol 18.27 1190 0.47 - -
Piperitone 18.58 1257 0.68 1.12 3.56
n-Tridecane 19.74 1300 0.42 - -
Piperitenone 20.98 1346 0.29 - -
β-Cubene 21.31 1348 0.22 - 0.03
n-Tetradecane 22.38 1400 0.24 - -
β- Caryophyllene 23.11 1420 6.9 0.08 1.7
α-Cadinol 23.21 1442 0.39 - -
α-Caryophyllene 23.34 1454 0.49 - 0.05
trans-β- Farnesene 23.86 1461 0.78 - -
Germacrene-D 24.63 1485 2.7 - 0.36
γ-Muurolene 24.79 1488 0.22 - -
Bicyclogermacrene 25.01 1495 0.38 - 2.61
α-Muurolene 25.04 1502 0.71 - 0.04
γ-Cadinene 25.40 1511 0.56 - -
δ-Cadinene 25.60 1520 0.19 - 0.05
Spathulenol 26.95 1563 0.52 0.05 0.09
β-Caryophyllene epoxide 27.11 1580 0.96 - 0.04
Tetradecanoic acid 28.86 1774 0.58 - -
Hexadecanal 29.83 1808 0.20 - -
Neophytadiene 32.44 1836 0.36 - -
n-Nonadecane 33.63 1900 1.72 - -
n-Hexadecanoic acid 34.93 1969 2.51 - 0.06
Heneicosane 37.45 2095 1.56 - 0.17
Linoleic acid 38.13 2133 1.25 - -
n-Docosane 39.22 2200 0.37 - -
*in HP-5 Column; Monoterpene hydrocarbons 46.88%; Oxygenated monoterpenes 15.36%; Sesquiterpene hydrocar-
bons 15.38%;Oxygenated sesquiterpenes 3.12%; Diterpenes 0.36%; Aliphatic hydrocarbons 8.47%; Others-10.43%
6 Biopesticides International Vol. 8, no. 2
were identified as the major constituents in the aerial
part, β-caryophyllene (6.9%), germacrene-D (2.7%)
and E- oscimene (1.81%) was detected in the flower
essential oil. l-limonene (11.16%) and cis-oscimene
(2.1%) were identified as the major constituents in
leaf. The result revealed that the monoterpenoids
were the dominant constituents. As evident from the
data (Table 1) cis-oscimene (18.46%) content was
considerably high in the aerial parts. l-Limonene
(11.16%) and β-caryophyllene (6.9%) content was
comparatively higher in leaf and flower essential oil.
Our results were different from earlier study (Kishore
et al., 1991) which reported 18 compounds; the major
constituents being piperitone (19.2%), β-
caryophyllene (15.2%), limonene (11.7%), methyl
eugenol (12.3%), (E) - ocimene (13.7%), piperitenone
(8.1%) and terpinolene (11.9%). The study reported
a substantial variation in the relative quantities of
monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoid and some of the
unreported higher molecular weight hydrocarbons
Table 2. IC50 values of essential oil and standard antioxidants
IC50 (µg/ml)aGA QH EO
DPPH radical scavenging 11.26 4.95 29.48
aData based on average of three replicates
Table 3. Antifungal activity (EC50) of essential oil of T. erecta against three phytopathogenic fungi
Test fungi Df χ2 Regression equation EC50 (ppm)
R. solani 3 0.27 Y = 3.89 + 0.466X 235.00
S. rolfsiii 3 0.66 Y = 2.88 + 0.789X 483.34
M. phaseolina 3 3.70 Y = 1.58 + 2.118X 1280.98
Fig. 1. DPPH radical Scavenging activities of essential oil and standard antioxidants. GA = gallic acid, QH
= quercetin hydrate and EO = essential oil
2012 Tripathi et al. : Antioxidant and antimicrobial essential oil from Tagetes erecta 7
in EO of aerial parts.
Comparing the composition of T. erecta leaf,
flower and aerial part essential oil showed some
similarities and differences. While major constituent
in the flower oil was β-caryophyllene; cis-oscimene
and l-limonene were identified as the major
constituent in aerial parts. Unlike, high levels of
piperitone and low levels of limonene and
piperitenone as reported in T. patula EO (Vidyasagar
et al., 2005), our results indicated a low percentile of
piperitone (3.56%) and high percentile of cis-ocimene
(18.46%), (E)-oscimene (8.65%) and (E) - tagetone
(10.56%) in T. erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) EO.
These data confirm the extreme variability in the
qualitative and quantitative composition of T. patula
and T. erecta EO.
Antioxidant activity of T. erecta (Var. Pusa
Narangi Genda) was assessed by DPPH, FRAP and
CUPRAC assay. The dark color of DPPH radical
solution in the presence of an antioxidant compounds
turned lighter and absorbance of solution becomes
lower. Comparison of DPPH assay of the essential
oil and two standard antioxidants revealed that the
activity decreased in the order GA (92.4%) > QH
(91.4%) > EO (82.3%) at the rate of 100 ìg/ml test
dose (Fig. 1). The activity was dose dependent and
positively correlated with increasing concentration
as evident from the IC50 values (Table 2).
In the FRAP assay the yellow color of the test
solution changed to blue color depending on the
Table 4: MIC of T. erecta essential oil (Pusa Narangi Genda) against bacteria
TBacterium MIC (µg/ml)
Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 3160) 20.83
Klebsiella pneumonia (MTCC 7028) 41.67
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2581) 93.33
Xanthomonas oryzae (ITCC B-47) 83.38
Fig. 2. Reducing power of essential oil and standard antioxidants by FRAP assay. GA = gallic acid, QH =
quercetin hydrate and EO = essential oil
8 Biopesticides International Vol. 8, no. 2
reducing power of the test antioxidants, FRAP assay
(Fig. 2) with increase in concentration Tagetes EO
showed increased ferric reducing power. The
reducing power of essential oil and standard
antioxidants decreased in the order of GA > QH >
EO. In CUPRAC assay (Apak et al., 2008) the
reducing power of EO and standard antioxidants,
decreased in order of GA > QH > EO, respectively
(Fig. 3). As evident from the three antioxidant assay
Tagetes essential oil exhibited moderate antioxidant
activity.
Antifungal activity of T. erecta (Var. Pusa
Narangi Genda) essential oil against three
phytopathogenic fungi is shown inTable 3. The
essential oil exhibited moderate antifungal activity
against R. solani (EC50 = 235.00 mg/l), S. rolfsii (EC50
= 483.349 mg/l) and M. phaseolina (EC50 = 1280.98
mg/l). In earlier study, the EO extracted from another
Tagetes variety T. patula exhibited good antifungal
activity against two phytopathogenic fungi, Botrytis
cinerea and Penicillium digitatum (Romagnoli et al.,
2005). Results of our study confirmed the importance
of T. erecta (var. Pusa Narangi Genda) EO as potential
antimycotic agent. The activity was however, less
than the positive control (azadirachtin technical)
which showed slightly better activity against the
three phytopathogens (Sharma et al., 2003).
Antibacterial activity of T. erecta (Var. Pusa
Narangi Genda) EO is shown in Table 4. In general
the Tagetes EO was more active against Gram-
positive (Staphylococcus aureus) than against Gram-
negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Xanthomonas oryzae).
There have been previous reports of flavonoids from
leaves of T. minuta and leaf extract of T. lucida
showing antibacterial activity. These antibacterial
affects are in agreement with activity of EO of T.
patula collected from Venezula (Rondon et al., 2006).
Significantly higher antifungal and antibacterial
activity of T.erecta (Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) EO
(aerial part) could be attributed to higher ocimene
content (47.11%) in the essential oil. Since T. erecta
(Var. Pusa Narangi Genda) EO exhibited moderate to
significant antifungal, antibacterial and antioxidant
activity;the plant has the potential for the control of
diseases infesting agricultural and horticultural
crops.
Acknowledgments The authors express their
gratitude to the Head, Division of Agricultural
Fig. 3. Reducing power of essential oil and standard antioxidants by CUPRAC assay. GA = gallic acid, QH
= quercetin hydrate and EO = essential oil
2012 Tripathi et al. : Antioxidant and antimicrobial essential oil from Tagetes erecta 9
Chemicals, for providing necessary facilities; Seed
Production Unit, IARI, New Delhi for providing plant
material, and Director, IARI and Dean P.G.School,
IARI, New Delhi for financial assistance as SRF to
Brijesh Tripathi.
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Accepted 20 December 2012
