Lab Anim Res.  2017 Jun;33(2):84-91. 10.5625/lar.2017.33.2.84.

Antimicrobial property of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) oil against pathogenic bacteria isolated from pet turtles

• De Silva B
• Jung WG
• Hossain S
• Wimalasena S
• Pathirana
• Heo GJ

• KMID: 2407420
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5625/lar.2017.33.2.84

Abstract

The usage of essential oils as antimicrobial agents is gaining attention. Besides, pet turtles were known to harbor a range of pathogenic bacteria while the turtle keeping is a growing trend worldwide.The current study examined the antimicrobial activity of lemon grass oil (LGO) against seven species of Gram negative bacteria namely; Aeromonas hydrophila, A. caviae, Citrobacter freundii, Salmonella enterica, Edwardsiella tarda, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis isolated from three popular species of pet turtles. Along with the results of disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC and MBC) tests, LGO was detected as effective against 6 species of bacteria excluding P. aeruginosa. MIC of LGO for the strains except P. aeruginosa ranged from 0.016 to 0.5% (V/V). The lowest MIC recorded in the E. tarda strain followed by A. hydrophilla, C. freundii, P. mirabilis, and S. enterica. Interestingly, all the bacterial species except E. tarda were showing high multiple antimicrobial resistance (MAR) index values ranging from 0.36 to 0.91 upon the 11 antibiotics tested although they were sensitive to LGO.

Keyword

Lemongrass oil; antimicrobial property; pet turtles; pathogenic bacteria

MeSH Terms

Aeromonas hydrophila
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Bacteria*
Citrobacter freundii
Cymbopogon*
Diffusion
Edwardsiella tarda
Gram-Negative Bacteria
Guinea Pigs
Mirabilis
Oils, Volatile
Proteus mirabilis
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Salmonella enterica
Turtles*
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Oils, Volatile

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) index values of pet turtle-borne bacterial species (The index was calculated by dividing the no. of resistant antimicrobials by 11; the total antimicrobials tested).

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