Antibacterial activity of zingiber officinale and zingiber zerumbet by using Turbo Extractor Distillator (TED)

Abstract

Zingiber officinale (ginger) and Zingiber zerumbet (lempoyang) are belong to Zingiberaceae family. These plants have been traditionally used as a treatment for stomach problems, nausea, vomiting, epilepsy, sore throat, muscular pains and several other disorders. Essential oils from both plants were investigated for their efficacy on antibacterial activity against two Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, ATCC 25923 and Bacillus cereus, ATCC 11778) and two Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ATCC 27853 and Escherichia coli, ATCC 35218) bacteria species using the disc diffusion assay. A zone of inhibition was compared with the standard antibiotic chloramphenicol (10 µg/disc), whilst a blank disc impregnated with the methanol was used as negative control. At concentration 20µl/disc, Zingiber officinale essential oils produced zone of inhibition ranging from 16mm to 36mm, while Zingiber zerumbet essential oils produced zone inhibition ranging from 11mm to 14mm. From these findings, Zingiber officinale essential oil inhibited the growth of all tested bacteria with large zone of inhibition. The most susceptible bacteria was Bacillus cereus while the lowest was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It can be concluded that, Zingiber officinale and Zingiber zerumbet essential oils might provide potential therapeutic agents against bacterial infection.