African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 7 (1), pp. 025-026, 4 January 2008   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2008 Academic Journals        

Short Communication

Antibacterial activity of Eucalpytus citriodora Hk. oil on few clinically important bacteria

R. Nair, Y. Vaghasiya and S. Chanda*

Phytochemical Pharmacological and Microbiological Laboratory, Department of Biosciences, Saurashtra University, Rajkot – 5, Gujarat, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: sumitrachanda@yahoo.com

Accepted 7 November, 2007

The antibacterial activity of Eucalyptus citriodora oil was evaluated. The volatile oil was extracted by steam distillation method. The tested bacterial strains were Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis NCIM2241, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853, Proteus vulgaris NCTC8313, Salmonella typhimurium, Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC13048, Pseudomonas testosteroni NCIM 5098, Alcaligenes fecalis, Bacillus cereus ATCC11778 and Citrobacter freundii ATCC10787. Piperacillin and Amikacin were used as the positive controls. The activity of the oil increased with increase in concentration but decreased after a certain level. The study suggests that isolation of the active compound from oil would give more satisfactory and promising results.

Keywords: Eucalyptus citriodora, Antibacterial activity, medicinal plant, volatile oil.