Antibacterial activity of zingiber officinale and zingiber zerumbet essential oils extracted by using turbo extractor distillator (TED)

Abstract

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