Research on selected wild edible vegetables: Mineral content and antimicrobial potentials

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the antimicrobial activity and to determine mineral contents of commonly consumed wild vegetables, which utilized mostly in southern parts of Turkey. Ten plantsbelonging to the different taxa (Arum dioscoridis Sm., Chenopodium album L., Malva sylvestris L., Mentha longifolia (L) Huds., Nasturtium officinale W.T. Aiton, Papaver rhoeas L., Polygonum aviculare L., Rumex acetosella L., Sinapis alba L. and Urtica dioica L.) were individually screened for their possible antibacterial and antifungal activities using both polar (methanolic) and nonpolar (n-hexane) crude extracts. The extracts were tested against both standard American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and Refik Saydam Turkish National Type Culture Collection (RSKK) and clinically isolated (CI) bacterial strains and two ATCC fungal strains. The efficacy of each plant extracts was tested by serial micro dilution method (MIC). Analyzed plant extracts demonstrated antimicrobial activity with the MIC values ranging 16 to 64 mu g/ml against culture collection Gram negative bacteria and. 256 mu g/ml against isolated strains. The MIC values for selected extracts ranged from 16 to 256 mu g/ml against culture collection Gram positive bacteria and. 256 mu g/ml against isolated strains. Among the plants tested, C. album (aqueous-methanolic) extracts demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activities againstall the test microorganisms with the best MIC (16 mu g/ml) value. Furthermore, major and trace element concentrations were also screened and evaluated for their potential risk for public health by comparing with established limits proposed by various scientific reports.