Essential Oil Composition of Ambrosia Artemisiifolia and Its Antibacterial Activity Against Phytopathogens

The composition of essential oil from aerial parts of Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. from Bor (Serbia) was analyzed. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID, GC-MS). In total, 45 compounds were detected (98.49% of the total). The essential oil was dominated by monoterpene (45%) and sesquiterpene (38.51%) hydrocarbons. The principal constituents were germacrene D (25.3%), limonene (21.6%), and α-pinene (15.7%). The microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the essential oil against five Gram-negative phytopathogenic strains. Essential oil exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against two Xanthomonas campestris strains and one referent and one natural isolate of Ervinia amylovora, causative agents of black rot and fire blight.