Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils of Foeniculum vulgare Mill and Pimpinella anisum L (Apiaceae) Species

Today, essential oils are considered safe substances and can be used as antibacterial additives. Pimpinella anisum L. (Aniseed) and Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. dulce (fennel) species are of great economic importance. It is among the medicinal and aromatic plants cultivated in wide areas in our country. In this study, it was aimed to determine the antimicrobial properties of essential oils obtained from Foeniculum vulgare Mill. and Pimpinella anisum L plants. The essential oils of the species were obtained by using the distillation method. The antimicrobial activities of essential oils by hand were studied using the hollow agar method. Known to be medically important in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products Enterobacter aerogenes (ATCC 13048), Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Salmonella enteritidis (ATCC 13075), Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus (ATCC 25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Serratia marcescens (ATCC 13880) evaluated against pathogen and microbial contaminants. While Foeniculum vulgare showed results parallel to the antibiotic used as standard, no antibacterial activity was observed in Pimpinella anisum L.