ABSTRACT
Zingiber officinale, commonly known as ginger, is a species native of
tropical Asia. It is grown and used in tropical countries of America, including
Mexico, where it is used for the treatment of throat infections. The aim of
this study was to determine the chemical composition of essential oil of Z. officinale rhizome and evaluate
their antimicrobial activity. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation, and the chemical composition of
the oil was determined by GC-MS. To determine the antimicrobial activity
diffusion, agar dilution and radial growth inhibition methods were employed.
Microbial growth curves were performed on the strains most susceptible. It was
identified 28 compounds in the essential oil, the most abundant were eudesmol
(8.19%), γ-terpinene (7.88 %), a-curcumene (7.28%), alloaromadendrene (6.56%), zingiberene (6.06 %), α-pinene (5.76 %), δ-cadinene (3.84%),
elemol (3.39%), farnesal (3.45%), E-β-farnesene (3.57%),
neril acetate (2.8%) and β-myrcene (2.94%). In antimicrobial activity, the essential oil inhibited
the growth of 15 bacterial strains, 3 of yeast fungi and 4 of mycelia fungi.
The most susceptible strains were S. aureus FES-I (MIC = 0.25 mg/mL) S. epidemidis FES-C (MIC = 0.5
mg/mL), E. faecalis ATCC 14506 (MIC = 1.0 mg/mL), C. tropicalis (CMI = 0.125 mg/mL)
and T. mentagrophytes (CF50 = 0.08 mg/mL). In the microbial growth curves the essential oil showed
bactericidal effect on S. aureus FES-I and S. marcescens ATCC 14756 from the first hour
of exposure of the strains to oil, eliminating 99.9% of CFU in concentrations
of 0.5 and 0.75 mg/mL respectively. The results validate the medicinal use of Z. officinale in the treatment of
diseases of possible infectious origin.
Share and Cite:
López, E. , Balcázar, M. , Mendoza, J. , Ortiz, A. , Melo, M. , Parrales, R. and Delgado, T. (2017) Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oil of
Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae).
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
8, 1511-1524. doi:
10.4236/ajps.2017.87104.