The Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils of Al-Abbasʹs (AS) Hand Fruit Peel (Citrus Medica) var. Sarcodactylis Swingle

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effect of essential oils of Al-Abbasʹs (AS) Hand fruit Peel (Citrus medica) var. sarcodactylis Swingle on the Pathogenic bacteria. Al-Abbasʹs (AS) Hand fruit peels essential oils extracted by hydro-distillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus, the oil yield was about 0.75% (7.5 g/1 kg) of fresh peel.  The essential oils of Al-Abbasʹs (AS) Hand (Citrus medica) L. var. sarcodactylis (Sieber) Swingle fruit peel has effective antibacterial activities on the test isolates as indicated by the diameter of their zone of inhibition. The inhibition zone was 18 mm for Enterobacter cloacae, 15 mm for Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 22 mm for Klebsiella pneumoniae, 20 mm for Proteus mirabilis, Bacillus sp. and Streptococcus spp., 25 mm for Staphylococcus aureus. The study revealed that the essential oils of Al-Abbasʹs (AS) Hand fruit peel could be as a therapeutic agent for human microbial infections.

Keywords: Essential oils, Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis Swingle, peel extract, pathogenic bacteria antimicrobial activity.