The aim of this study is to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, insecticidal and allelopathic activities of Tunisia Salvia officinalis essential oil (SoEO). The SoEO was characterized by the presence of 49 components with camphor (25.14 %), α-thujone (18.83 %), 1,8-cineole (14.14 %), viridiflorol (7.98 %), β-thujone (4.46 %) and β-caryophyllene (3.30 %) as the major components, determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The level of antioxidant activity, determined by complementary tests, namely 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging (IC50= 6.7 mg/mL), linoleic acid peroxidation (IC50= 9.6 mg/mL) and ferric reducing assays (IC50= 28.4 mg/mL), was relatively moderate. The SoEO was also screened for its antimicrobial activity. Good to moderate inhibitions were recorded for most of tested microorganisms. It also exhibited important insecticidal activity against Spodoptera littoralis larvae and Tribolium castaneum adults with LC50 values of 55.99 and 97.43 µl/L air, respectively. The effect of the SoEO on seeds germination and growth showed different activities against radical and hypocotyl elongation of the tested species. These results suggest the potential use of the SoEO as natural antimicrobial preservative in cosmetic, pharmaceutical industry and in pest management.
Keywords: Salvia officinalis; antimicrobial activity; antioxidant; essential oil; insecticidal activity; phytotoxicity.