Chemical constituents, antifungal and antioxidative potential of Foeniculum vulgare volatile oil and its acetone extract

GC and GC–MS analysis of Foeniculum vulgare volatile oil showed the presence of 35 components containing 96.4% of the total amount. The major component was trans-anethole (70.1%). The analysis of its acetone extract showed the presence of nine components accounting for 68.9% of the total amount. Linoleic acid (54.9%), palmitic acid (5.4%) and oleic acid (5.4%) were found as major components in extract. The antifungal and antioxidative potentials were also carried out by different techniques. In inverted petriplate method, the volatile oil showed complete zone inhibition against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium moniliforme at 6 μL dose. It was found to be effective for A. niger even at 4 μL dose. Moreover, using food poison technique, the volatile oil and extract both showed good to moderate zone of inhibition. The antioxidant value was evaluated by measuring peroxide and thiobarbituric acid values for linseed oil at fixed time intervals. Both, the volatile oil and extract showed strong antioxidant activity in comparison with butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). In addition, their inhibitory action in linoleic acid system was studied by monitoring peroxide accumulation in emulsion during incubation through ferric thiocyanate method. The results were well correlated with the above results.