European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF DIFFERENT BANGLADESHI SPICES (TURMERIC, GARLIC AND GINGER)

Trisha Farjana, Md. Mahfujur Rahman, Khadija Akter Eva, Nagma Zerin, Md. Shahidul Kabir*

ABSTRACT

Spices are commonly used in preparation of Asian food for fortification of taste, flavor, color and fragrance. They also impart many other properties which are beneficial for human health. Antioxidant and antibacterial properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa), garlic (Allium sativum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) powders were determined in this study. The spice powders were extracted in ethanol, methanol and distilled water. Antioxidant property was determine by Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) scavenging assay and antibacterial activity by agar well diffusion assay against twenty four pathogenic bacteria e.g. Escherichia coli (n=4), Staphylococcus aureus (n=4), Pseudomonas spp. (n=4), Klebsiella spp. (n=4), Salmonella spp. (n=4) and Vibrio cholera (n=4). The highest antioxidant activity was observed for methanol extract (60.00 μg/mL) of ginger, % scavenging being 94.09 ± 3.63 %. The ethanol extract (100.00 μg/ml) of turmeric showed the strongest antibacterial activities against Pseudomonas spp. and Vibrio cholerae with zone of inhibition being 16.00 ± 1.00 mm. While the methanol extract (100.00 μg/ml) of garlic showed maximum zone of inhibition (15.67 ± 1.53 mm) against Klebsiella spp., the ethanol extract of ginger (100.00 μg/ml) exhibited the maximum zone of inhibition (18.00 ± 1.00 mm) against Pseudomonas spp. This study may contribute to the global efforts towards screening compounds possessing antioxidant and antibacterial properties that may be used as precursor molecules for new drugs to be used for treatment of cancer and emerging drug resistant microorganisms.

Keywords: Turmeric, Garlic, Ginger, Antibacterial activity, Antioxidant activity.