Photochemical and Antimicrobial Activity of Turmeric Rhizome Extract Against Some Selected Microorgnisms

The use of medicinal plants in solving human health-related problems particularly that of microbial origin is an aged long practice and the quest for novel drugs from natural products to war against antibiotics resistance bacteria is at the forefront of the pharmaceutical industries. This Study investigated the antimicrobial activities of Curcuma longa (Turmeric) rhizome extract against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Fresh turmeric rhizomes were obtained, washed, dice and dried under room temperature and was brought to fine particle size with the aid of an electric blender. 100g of the turmeric powder was weighed and dissolved in 400ml of methanol and ethanol respectively, and was allowed to stay in an orbital shaker for 48hrs. The mixture was filtered using Whatman NO1 filter paper and was distilled using a rotary evaporator. The phytochemical screening was carried out using standard method. The antimicrobial activity of the turmeric extract was determined using the agar well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extracts on the test isolates were determined using the micro broth dilution method. The phytochemical analysis reveals the presence of flavonoids, saponin, tannin and alkaloids at varying concentrations of the different extracts. The turmeric methanolic extracts recorded more antimicrobial activity with zone of inhibition of 6.0mm, 5.5mm and 7.4mm for S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans respectively. The MIC of the extract on test isolates ranged from 3.55-5.0mg/ml while the MBC ranged from 5.5 – 7.4mg/ml. The research reveals that turmeric extract has a broad spectrum of activity against the test organisms and therefore, should serve as a cheap source of antimicrobial agent.