Design of green silver nanoparticles mediated by Ferula ovina Boiss. Extract with enhanced antibacterial effect

In this research, we have employed the aerial parts extract of Ferula ovina Boiss. (FOB) as an effective reducing agent for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using a green and scalable approach. The FOB species were collected from five different sites. The phytochemical constituents of five distinct FOB extracts were screened by GC–MS and the attained AgNPs were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, Xray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The formation of the AgNPs is marked by the emergence of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at the 400 – 450 nm range for the samples. The SEM images indicate that the AgNPs are formed with spherical morphology with a mean size ranging from 15.7 to 23.86 nm. The AgNPs obtained by FOB extract exhibited effective antibacterial activity against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) and Gram-negative Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) species using disk diffusion method. The results suggest that the AgNPs are primarily more active against E. coli and S. typhimurium essentially due to the cell wall structure of these Gram-negative strains.