Antimicrobial efficacy of essential oils extracted from some species of zingiberaceae.

The Zingiberaceae is one of the largest families from the order Zingiberales, with approximately 50 genera and over 1,000 species. The family has noted antimicrobial effect. In this study the efficacy of essential oils extracted from three species of Zingiberaceae under genus Curcuma and Zingiber is tested on certain pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The oil samples did not show any bactericidal activity. They were active only under bacteriostatic condition. Antifungal assay was carried out for the Curcuma amada Roxb, Zingiber officinale Rosc. var. moran, Z. officinale Rosc., Z. zerumbet (L.) J. E. Smith, out of which Z. offiicinale var. moran showed greater inhibitory effect over the microbial strains.