Biological activities and analyses of the chemical constituents of the essential oils from Thymus kotschyanus var. kotschyanus and Thymus eigii in the Amanos mountains

Aerial parts of Thymus eigii were collected from Bekdemir village (Osmaniye-Bahçe) at an altitude of 878 m. Aerial parts of Thymus kotschyanus var. kotschyanus were collected from Radar region (Osmaniye-Bahçe) at an altitude of 1752 m. Essential oils from plant materals were extracted using clevenger type apparatus for 3 h. The oils were characterized using GC/MS. The essential oil yield was 1,037% (v/w) for T. eigii. The essential oil of this species was rich in thymol (24,77%), carvacrol (14%), p-cymene (10,91%), γ-terpinene (6,53%) and borneol (6,48%). The essential oil yield was 1,654% (v/w) for T. kotschyanus var. kotschyanus. The essential oil of T. kotschyanus var. kotschyanus predominantly consisted of carvacrol (23,82%), thymol (17,11%), p-cymene (9,08%) and γ-terpinene (6,09%). Antimicrobial activities of the essential oils were carried out with disc diffusion and macrobroth dilution assays. In the antimicrobial assay, essential oils showed different levels of antimicrobial activities against test microorganisms. Essential oils of T. eigii, and T. kotschyanus var. kotschyanus exhibited significant phytotoxic potantial on the germination, radicle and plumule growth of Lactuca sativa, Lactuca sativum and Portulaca oleracea.