Phytochemical, antioxidant and antibacterial studies on the essential oil of the rhizome of Curcuma amada roxb

This study investigates the chemical composition, in vitro antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity of essential oil of Curcuma amada Roxb. The GC- MS analysis of the oil has shown a profile of 17 compounds. β-Myrcene (69.60%) and β-Pinene (15.15%) are the two major components. The antioxidant activity was done by using 2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, total antioxidant assay, Ferric reducing antioxidant power and nitric oxide scavenging assay. This study proves that the essential oil could serve as an important bio-resource of antioxidants for using in food and pharmaceutical industry. Besides, the essential of C.amada remarkably inhibited the growth of 12 bacterial strains. Results indicated that essential oil of C.amada included rather higher proportions of mono-terpenoid compounds with good antioxidant and antibacterial properties.