1 Integrated Centre for Environmental Science Studies in the North-East Development Region – CERNESIM, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
2 Department of Experimental and Applied Biology, NIRDBS-Institute of Biological Research-Iasi
3 Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
Essentials oils have been used over time in the food and cosmetics industry, but also in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Environmental factors such as temperature, radiation and photoperiod play an extremely important role in the quantity and quality of volatile oils. It is also known that the vegetation stage can play an important role in the chemical composition of volatile oils. The purpose of this paper is to establish the antibacterial and antifungal activity of volatile oils of Thymus pannonicus, taking into account the ontogenetic stage in which the plants were collected, highlighting the compounds of therapeutic importance. To test the antimicrobial activity of essential oils two methods of work were used: Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and microplate method. The essential oils studies were tested on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Candida albicans. It was find that all essential oils tested have antimicrobial activity at all stages of development tested. The maximum antimicrobial activity has been recorded for the oils extracted from individuals collected at the anthesis stage.