Changes of Peel Essential Oil Composition of Four Tunisian Citrus during Fruit Maturation

Table 4

Antibacterial activity of peel essential oils of four cultivars of citrus at different ripening stages against three human pathogenic bacteria.

Bacteria strains	Diameter of inhibition zone including the disc (mm)
	Ripening stage	Bitter orange	Lemon	Orange maltaise	Mandarin	Gentamicin
E. coli	Stage 1	17.30^Ab	26.60^Aa	na	26.00^Aa	27
	Stage 2	na	na	11.30^Ba	1.00^Cb
	Stage 3	14.00^Bab	17.30^Ba	17.30^Aa	16.00^Ba
S. aureus	Stage 1	16.00^Aa	3.53^Cb	na	1.30^Bb	22
	Stage 2	6.00^Ba	na	1.36^Bb	1.06^Bb
	Stage 3	14.00^Ac	16.60^bc	13.30^Ac	20.00^Aa
P. aeruginosa	Stage 1	na	na	na	na	16
	Stage 2	na	na	na	na
	Stage 3	8.00^b	13.30^a	11.30^a	na

Means of three replicates. (Values with different superscripts are significantly different at 𝑃<0.05). Caps superscripts (comparison between stages). Small superscripts (comparison between citrus species). Na: not active.