River Tea Tree Oil: Composition, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities, and Potential Applications in Agriculture

Melaleuca is one of the genera of the Myrtaceae family enriched in tea tree oil (TTO). Tea tree oils of Melaleuca bracteata and Melaleuca alternifolia are of prime importance and have antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Terpinen-4-ol and 1-8 cineole are major constituents of M. alternifolia oi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plants (Basel) 2021-10, Vol.10 (10), p.2105
Main Authors: Yasin, Mursleen, Younis, Adnan, Javed, Talha, Akram, Ahsan, Ahsan, Muhammad, Shabbir, Rubab, Ali, Muhammad Moaaz, Tahir, Ayesha, El-Ballat, Enas M., Sheteiwy, Mohamed S., Sammour, Reda Helmy, Hano, Christophe, Alhumaydhi, Fahad A., El-Esawi, Mohamed A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Agrochemicals
Antibiotics
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
antimicrobial
antioxidant
Antioxidants
Aromatherapy
Butylated hydroxytoluene
Chemical composition
Cineole
Cosmetics
Distillation
E coli
Essential oils
Food industry
Fruits
Fungicides
Herbicides
Insecticides
Melaleuca
Oils & fats
Pesticides
Pharmaceutical industry
Plant extracts
Preservatives
Pseudomonas putida
Review
Scavenging
Seeds
Tea tree oil
Terpinene
Trees
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Melaleuca is one of the genera of the Myrtaceae family enriched in tea tree oil (TTO). Tea tree oils of Melaleuca bracteata and Melaleuca alternifolia are of prime importance and have antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Terpinen-4-ol and 1-8 cineole are major constituents of M. alternifolia oil. The percentages of the compounds in the oils can slightly vary according to the region of plant harvest, the distillation technique, or the part of the plant used for oil extraction. TTO has a bactericidal effect against various bacterial species such as Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, E. coli, Pseudomonas putida, and S. aureus. Several reports proved that this essential oil is also effective against fungal strains of Fusarium, Aspergillus, and Candida species. It also has antioxidant properties such as radical scavenging activity and reducing power. The antioxidant properties of TTO at a concentration of 30 mM were observed to be greater than those of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), commonly used as a synthetic antioxidant. TTO is also an effective organic fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide for use in the agriculture sector. Postharvest application of the oil has been found efficient on sweet basil, citrus, and strawberry. It is concluded that tea tree oil has the potential to be used in the food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries as a natural antimicrobial and preservative agent. This review provides comprehensive information regarding the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of tea tree oil and its potential applications in agriculture.
ISSN:2223-7747
2223-7747
DOI:10.3390/plants10102105