Cyto-biochemical and Antimicrobial Investigations on Essential Oil ofZingiber officinaleRoscoe

This study reports on a series of investigations into the cyto-biochemical and the antimicrobial properties of essential oil of Zingiber officinale Roscoe. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation and subjected to GC analysis. Citral (30.8 %) and zingiberene (17.07 %) were the major component. Compared with a number of antibiotics, the antimicrobial activity of this oil was found to be better than Chloramphenicol, Sulfamethoxazole, Penicillin G, Ampicillin and Erythromycin but less important than Gentamicin. Interestingly, ginger oil have shown moderate to good inhibitory effects (66.66 %) against S. aureus , S. pyogenes, B. subtilis, E.coli , S. typhi and P. aeruginosa whereas P. mirabilis, C. koseri and A. niger exhibited a complete resistant towards the tested essential oil. It was concluded that this oil extract can be used as a preservative against some human pathogens.