| dc.description.abstract | Due to adverse effects exerted by currently applying synthetic food preservatives, there is
a timely need of discovery of natural food preservatives. The present study was aimed to
discover the antimicrobial potential of fruit extract of Tamarindus indica (Siyabala) and
Cynometra cauliflora (Nam-Nam) grown in north central province of Sri Lanka against
common food spoilage bacteria. The ethanol extracts of unripe fruit carp which was
prepared by maceration, was dissolved in distilled water after evaporating all ethanol
for partition with hexane and ethyl acetate. The antibacterial activity of crude extract
and the fractions was assessed by agar disc diffusion method. Four concentrations of
each sample were screened against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia and Acinetobactor baumannii. Among all fractions, the
water fraction showed the highest yields for both fruit extracts (C. cauliflora: 51%, T. indica:
60.71%) . The ethanol crude extract (500 mg/ml) of C. cauliflora (500 mg/ml) inhibited
the growth of E. coli (7.66 mm), S. aureus (11 mm) and P. aeruginosa (11.33 mm), while
the water fraction (500 mg/ml) inhibited all five strains (E. coli: 8 mm, S. aureus: 10.33
mm, P. aeruginosa: 12.66 mm, K. pneumoniae: 6.33 and A. baumannii: 13.33 mm). The
500 mg/ ml concentration of ethanol crude extract (E. coli: 10 mm, S. aureus: 13 mm,
P. aeruginosa: 15 mm, K. pneumoniae: 14 mm and A. baumannii: 14 mm) and the water
fraction (E. coli: 10.66 mm, S. aureus: 15 mm, P. aeruginosa: 7 mm, K. pneumoniae: 10
mm and A. baumannii : 11 mm) of T. indica inhibited all bacterial strains. The hexane
fraction of T. indica only inhibited the growth of S. aureus (10 mm). Ethyl acetate fraction
of both fruit extracts did not exhibit antibacterial effect against tested strains. The results
of present study prove the possibility of application of the tested fruit extracts to develop
natural food preservatives. | en_US |
