BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF ESSENTIAL OILS AGAINST PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS: A REVIEW

The increasing resistance of microorganisms to traditional chemicals and drugs has prompted research workers to search for novel sources of biocides with broad-spectrum activities. Plants and their derivatives, such as essential oils, are used as natural medicine. In nature, essential oils play an crucial role in the protection of plants. Essential oils which are volatile products used as antifungal, anti-infectious and antimicrobial agents. Gasping of vapours of the essential oils will kill attackers attached to the respiratory tract and work cocurrently with the body defenses. These essential oils are naturally synthesized by various parts of the plant during the secondary metabolism of plants. A different group of plants having the medicinal value have been explored and used for the extraction of essential oils worldwide due to their antibacterial properties against the bacteria, fungi and viral infections. The presence of a large number of alkaloids, phenols, terpenes and other compounds which are antimicrobial compounds make the essential oils more accurate in their mode of action against the variety of pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, the essential oils could be used as better alternatives against the pathogenic microorganisms. The aim of this review article is to target on the antimicrobial activities of essential oils secreted by plants extracts involved in the inhibition of these pathogenic microorganisms