Antimicrobial efficacy and chemical constituents of pseudo-stem essential oils from Zingiber castaneum

In this paper, chemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of essential oil from the pseudo-stem of Zingiber castaneum Škorničk. & Q.B. (Zingiberaceae) Nguyễn growing in Vietnam havw been reported. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation using the Clevenger-type apparatus. Chemical components of the essential oil were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were evaluated by the method of microdilution broth susceptibility assay. The main constituents of the oil were bicyclo germacrene (28, 15.8%), cis-β-elemene (18, 9.8%) and germacrene D (26, 9.2%). The pseudo-stem oil of Z. castaneum displayed antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 25923), Aspergillus niger (ATCC 9763) and Fusarium oxysporum (ATCC 48112) with MIC values of 12.5 ± 0.57 μg/mL, 50 ± 1.00 μg/mL and 50 ± 0.50 μg/mL, respectively. The results indicate the potential of Z. castaneum essential oil as a source of antimicrobial agent.