ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF CLOVE AND THYME

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Food Science Dept., Fac. of Agric. Ain Shams Univ., P.O. Box 68, Hadayek Shubra 11241, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) ethanolic extracts. Different concentrations of ethanolic extracts were prepared and antimicrobial activity was determined against some bacterial, yeast and mold strains. The antimicrobial activity of examined extracts at different concentrations was determined against different cell population of tested strains and expressed as diameter of inhibition zone. Results showed that all clove and thyme ethanolic extracts were markedly inhibited the growth of all tested strains, however, the inhibition effect was differed with regard to the concentration of ethanolic extract as well as the type of tested microorganism. Generally, clove ethanolic extract had stronger antimicrobial activity rather than that of thyme ethanolic extract. Subsequently, clove and thyme are an extremely strong antimicrobial agent with usefull potential applications in food processing as a natural safe unsted of synthetic antimicrobial agents.

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