Abstract

DETERMINING THE ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THE EXTRACTS OF GINGER AND TURMERIC INCLUDING ITS AQUEOUS, ETHANOLIC AND n-HEXANE EXTRACTS AND DETERMINING ITS LEVEL OF EFFICACY COMPARED TO A STANDARD ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG

*Ike C. O., Orjioke N. M., Okafor G. U., Udeozo I. P., Ugwu M. C., Agu F. C. and Chukwu S. C.

Abstract

Ginger and Turmeric are not just used for culinary but exhibits good therapeutic qualities used for the prevention and treatment of various ailments. Chemical analysis has proved that each consists of over 400 different phytochemicals. This work investigates the antimicrobial activities of the aqueous and the inorganic extracts of ginger and turmeric with gram +ve (S. aureus) and gram – ve (E. coli and S. typhi) strains using Ciprofloxacin as the standard antibiotic. Disc diffusion and serial dilution were the methods used in carrying out the tests. The zone of inhibition which determines if the bacteria are resistant, intermediate or susceptible to the extracts and minimum inhibitory concentration which determines the lowest value at which the extracts are efficient. The zone of inhibition ranged from 9-13 mm for the ginger extracts and 11-16.2 mm for the turmeric extracts while the MIC values ranged 0.05-.06 mg/ml for the ginger extract and 0.1-1.0 mg/ml for the turmeric extract. In conclusion, the test bacteria showed susceptibility to all extracts, however, the bacteria showed overall higher susceptibility to the ginger extracts.

Keywords: Aqueous Extract, Ginger, Tumeric, n-Hexane, Ethanol, antimicrobial agent.