Antimicrobial activity of essential oil of ginger against pathogenic microflora Srivastava Madhu Prakash*, Sharma Neeta Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow-226 007, (U.P.), India *E-mail: madhusrivastava2010@gmail.com
Online published on 30 November, 2019. Abstract Antimicrobial activities of essential oil extracted from Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) was analyzed by GC-MS. The oil yield was 2.0±0.03 per cent. Volatile oil from Zingiber officinale and its major component 1, 8-cineole, camphene and Zingiberene possess fungitoxic activity worth exploiting for the management of spoilage of stored commodities due to mycotoxin producing fungi. The essential oil obtained from Zingiber officinale rhizome exhibited varying degree of antimicrobial and antifungal activities, when tested against four bacterial and ten fungal cultures viz., Alternaria alternate, Aspergillus fumigates, A. niger, A. ochraceous, A. flavus, Cladosporium cladosporoides, C. herbarum, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium expansum, P. italicum, Tricothecium roseum and four bacterial cultures viz., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aerugenosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oil was found to be effective showing results at 500 – 700 ppm of oil in respect to all microbes. At higher concentration (1000 ppm) oil was fungicidal in action. The Zingiber officinale oil can be exploited as an effective and eco-friendly fungitoxic and bactericidal fumigant against storage fungal flora because of its high yield, strong and durable toxicity and thermostability. Top Keywords Zingiber officinale, antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration, eco-friendly fungitoxin. Top |