Comparative Proximate Composition and Antibacterial Activity of Garlic (Allium Sativum) and Ginger Zingiber (Zingiber Officinale) Extracts Against Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia Coli

As antimicrobial resistance is becoming more common, the need for plant-based antimicrobial agents as alternatives to traditional antibiotics has become more urgent. Garlic (Allium sativum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) are medicinal plants popular for their antimicrobial activity but there is little comparative data on the effect of solvent used in the extraction process on their antibacterial activity. In this study, the antimicrobial activities and proximate composition of garlic and ginger methanol and n-hexane extracts were compared with Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. An experimental approach was taken for laboratory design. Methanol and n-hexane were used to process and extract the fresh garlic bulbs and ginger rhizomes. The analysis of proximate composition was done by standard analytical procedure and the antibacterial activity was assessed by agar well diffusion method. Data were statistically analyzed with descriptive statistics and ANOVA (One Way Analysis of Variance) at 5% level of significance. Garlic powder had low moisture (5.09%) and high ash (29.88%) and lipid (2.17%) contents compared to ginger, while ginger had high crude fibre (0.96%) and protein (0.44%). The methanolic garlic extract exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (1.03 ± 0.02 cm) and Escherichia coli (1.03 ± 0.02 cm) followed by methanolic ginger extract with inhibition zone of 0.85 ± 0.01 cm and 0.81 ± 0.01 cm, respectively. The antibacterial activities of the n-heane extracts were comparatively low. The differences among the extract treatments were significant for Staphylococcus aureus (F = 427.71, p < 0.001) and Escherichia coli (F = 728.25, p < 0.001) growth inhibition by ANOVA. The study findings indicate that the methanolic extract of garlic has greater antibacterial activity as compared to ginger and n-hexane extract, and it can be used as a source of antimicrobial compounds with broad spectrum activity. Extraction optimization, safety evaluation and identification of active phytochemicals are recommended for further studies for pharmaceutical and industrial applications.

Allium Sativum, Zingiber Officinale, Antibacterial Activity, Methanol Extract

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