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The present investigation aimed to study antimicrobial activities in marine microalgae, screened from Moroccan coastlines. Ethanolic extracts were prepared from the microalgae and evaluated each against the bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, the yeast Candida albicans and the fungus Aspergillus niger. The highest antibacterial activity was found in the extract of Tetraselmis sp. which exhibited an inhibitory effect against the three bacteria with a MIC of 2.6 to 3.0 mg extract per mL culture. Extracts from the other microalgae: Dunaliella Salina, Nannochloropsis gaditana, Dunaliella sp., Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Isochrisis sp. each showed inhibitory activity against E. coli or P. aeruginosa with a MIC of 2.6 to 4.3 mg extract per mL. The extract of N. gaditana also inhibited S. aureus growth. However, the extracts from the microalgae, Chaetoceros sp. and Chlorella sp. showed no effect under the applied experimental conditions. All the tested extracts inhibited the growth of C. albicans; the highest activity was obtained from N. gaditana with a MIC of 4.0 mg extract per mL culture. Aspergillus niger appeared to be resistant to the effect of the extracts. The observed antimicrobial activities were linked to the contents of the extracts in fatty acids, carotenoids and phenolic compounds. In conclusion, the studied microalgae could be considered as a potential natural source of bioactive compounds with antimicrobial activities.

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This study was carried out with the aim to evaluate physical fruit traits, proximate composition, elemental content, and fatty acid profiling of almond kernels from ten genotypes (sweet and bitter) grown under various agro-ecological conditions (Tafraout, Igherm, Taliouine, Tiznit and Essaouira) in southern Morocco. During the ripening stage, samples (almond kernels) belonging to these genotypes were subjected to physical fruits measurements (weight, length, width, and thickness). Proximate composition determination (crude protein, crude oil, ash and moisture) was carried out on the powder of kernels for each genotype. Carbohydrates as well as energy value were calculated. Elemental profiling of almond kernels consisted of ten macro and microelements was determined as well as the fatty acids composition of almond extracted oil. The results of this study showed wide variations among the investigated genotypes in terms of crude protein (17.14 ± 2.14 to 25.12 ± 1.23 g/100 g), oil content (51.12 ± 2.99 to 56.26 ± 3.22 g/100 g), ash content (5.11 ± 0.45 to 6.79 ± 0.52 g/100 g), moisture content (2.55 ± 0.38 to 4.34 ± 1.16 g/100 g), carbohydrates (13.34 ± 1.54 to 18.59 ± 2.22 g/100 g) and energy value (549.80 ± 37.04 to 591.03 ± 38.56 kcal/100 g DM). A similar trend was observed in the case of mineral profiling. K (9796.08 ± 793.49 to 14 197.84 ± 1150.03 mg/kg) was the major mineral in all genotypes. This was followed by P (8190.75 ± 663.46 to 11 061.68 ± 895.96 mg/kg), Ca (3067.53 ± 248.47 to 5404.93 ± 437.79 mg/kg) and Mg (4002.85 ± 324.22 to 5101.72 ± 413.23 mg/kg), while Na, Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn and B were detected in small quantities. Our results revealed six fatty acids with a dominance of oleic acid, which varied widely among the studied genotypes and extraction technique. Solvent extraction performed better in terms of oil content. The studied genotypes showed a great pomological potential that could be exploited for their fruits such as for breeding purposes.

This work aims to evaluate the composition of the essential oils of certain mints grown in the region of Settat Morocco and to determine their chemical compositions. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation have an average yield of: 2.93% for Mentha pulegium, 1.23% for Mentha piperita and 0.91% for Mentha spicata. Analyzes of oils by GC-MS, showed the presence of several components including Menthone (42.97%) and Menthol (27.64%) are the major components of Mentha piperita, piperitone (31.27%) and piperitenone (22.98%) were obtained as the major compounds of Mentha pulegium, and so the main essential oil compounds of Mentha spicata are carvone (33.14%) and trans-Carveol (20.06%).

Ocimum plants are of great interest to traditional medicine in the history of several civilizations, particularly in terms of chronic human diseases. Essential oils obtained from this genus have also been used as therapeutic agents. In this present work, two plants of the Ocimum species from Djibouti, Ocimum basilicum L. and Ocimum americanum L., were subjected to hydrodistillation to obtain their essential oils. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed to determine the chemical composition of both essential oils. Linalool (41.2%) and estragole (30.1%) are the major compounds among the 37 compounds that have been identified in the essential oil of Ocimum basilicum L. (EOOB), and carvotanacetol (38.4%) and estragole (27.5%) are the main compounds among the 42 compounds that have been identified in the essential oil of Ocimum americanum L. (EOOA). Morever, the cytotoxic activity of EOs was evaluated against 13 human cancer cell lines (K562, A549, HCT116, PC3, U87-MG, MIA-Paca2, HEK293, NCI-N87, RT4, U2OS, A2780, MRC -5 and JIMT-T1) using a luminescence spectrophotometric method; hence, the oils showed significant cytotoxic activities. The antibacterial activities of the oils were assayed on five Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Corynebacterium sp.) and seven Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Shigella sonnei, Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium and Enterobacter cloacae) by agar disc diffusion methods. Both essential oils exhibited moderate activities against Streptococcus agalactiae, and thus each has an activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa for EOOB and against Enterobacter cloacae for EOOA, while the others are negative. The findings of this work showed the promising anticancer effects of both oils against total cell lines with a potential for use as natural alternatives to synthetic drugs; however, there was only an antibacterial effect against Streptococcus agalactiae.