Abstract Lens is a small genus in the family Fabaceae consisting of the cultivated variety- Lens culinaris and six other wild taxa. Lens culinaris legume herb containing several important minerals,vitamins beside some flavonoids. The present study was carried out to characterize the constituents of Lens culinaris seed oil and to assess its antimicrobial activity. Twenty six components were detected by GC-MS analysis being dominated by: 9,12-octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (37.49%), hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (20.28%), 9-octadecenoic acid methyl ester (17.19%) and methyl stearate (12.45%). The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against: Gram positive: Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis; Gram negative : Escherichia coli and Pseudomonasa aeruginosa and the yeast Candida albicans. The oil showed good antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. However, it exhibited partial activity against Bacillus subtilis.
Keywords Lens culinaris, Oil, GC-MS, Antimicrobial activity.