Evaluation of the antimicrobial power of Calendula arvensis

Calendula arvensis is one of the medicinal plants used in traditional Moroccan medicine. It is recognized by its characteristic and warm smell, due to its essential oil. In this work we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of Calendula arvensis (C.a) extracts on 22 bacterial and 6 fungal strains. The extraction of the active substances of C.a was performed by the Soxhlet method and by maceration in water. The screening of the antimicrobial activity was carried out by the well diffusion method. The results obtained show that 73% of the tested strains were inhibited by the organic extracts and 13% by the aqueous extract of C.a. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were obtained by the hexanic extract. No fungal strain was inhibited by aqueous extract. The antimicrobial power of C.a obtained in this study is very promising.