Abstract The present study was aimed at conducting
phytochemical analysis and evaluating the
in vitro antifungal and
antioxidant activities of the
essential oil obtained from the
fruits of J. oxycedrus L. Hydro-
distillation was used to extract the
essential oil from the
fruits of
Juniper oxycedrus. The
essential oil was analyzed using
gas chromatography with a
flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and
gas chromatography coupled with
mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The
antioxidant activity of the
essential oil against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals was determined
in vitro using varying concentrations of the
essential oil and
vitamin C as a standard
antioxidant compound. A disc
diffusion test was employed to evaluate the antifungal activity of the
essential oil against two test fungal
strains ,
Penicillium citrinum, and
Aspergillus niger . The results revealed that 49 constituents were identified in
fruit oil, representing 91.56% of the total oil and the yield was 1.58%.
Juniper fruit oil was characterized by having high contents of ß-pinene (42.04%), followed by
limonene (15.45%), sabinene (9.52%), α-pinene (5.21%), (E)-caryophyllene (3.77%), ρ-
cymene (1.56%), caryophyllene
oxide (2.02%), and myrcene (1.02%). The radical scavenging activity (% inhibition) of the
essential oil was highest (81.87± 2.83%) at a concentration of 200 µg/mL. The
essential oil of J. oxycedrus exhibited antifungal activity against A.
niger and P. citrinum with
minimum inhibitory concentration values (MIC) ranging from 2.89 to 85.01 µl/mL. The findings of the study reveal that the
antioxidant and antifungal properties of J. oxycedrus
essential oil and their chemical composition are significantly correlated