Use of essential oils of the genus citrus as biocidal agents

Abstract

In this study, the essential oils extracted from the peels of Citrus aurantifolia, Citrus limon and Citrus sinensis were chemically characterized and quantified. These essential oils and their standards limonene, citral and li- monene + citral were evaluated (at concentrations ranging from 500 to 3.91 mL·mL −1 ) regarding their anti-try- panosome, antifungal and antibacterial activities. The chemical identification and quantification (by GC/FID and GC/MS) displayed the limonene as the major component of the three essential oils. It did not verified anti- trypanosome activity for all treatments. Regarding antimicrobial activity, the results were satisfactory against Gram-negative bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria. monocytogenes and Salmonella cholerasuis) and funghi (Aspergillus niger, A. flavus and A. carbonarius), except for the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which showed no inhibition for any treatment used.