ABSTRACT

Ginger, Zingiber officinale, is an erect, herbaceous perennial plant in the family Zingiberaceae grown for its edible rhizome (underground stem with nodes and internodes which stores food) which is widely used as folk medicine and as a spice, because of its characteristic pungency and piquant flavor. This study determined the antimicrobial activity, proximate, phytochemical, as well as GC-MS analyses of the ethyl acetate extract of Zingiber officinalerhizome. Antimicrobial activity of the rhizome extract was evaluated against selected clinical bacterial and fungal isolates (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens Enterobacter cloacae, Proteus mirabilis, and Candida albicans) using agar-well diffusion/ agar dilution methods. Proximate, phytochemical and GC-MS analyses were carried out with standard methods. Result obtained showed a dark brown viscous extract with a yield of 4.473%. The extract showed activity against some test microorganisms with inhibition zone diameter range of 12mm to 15mm. Phytochemical and proximate studies revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, phenols, reducing sugar as well as carbohydrate (37.37%), crude protein (13.13%) and crude fibre (23.0%) respectively. Approximately 41 chemical constituents were present in the extract with nine (9) predominant peaks accounting for about 63.93% and other peaks making up the balance. Those chemical constituents present work wholly to establish the use of Zingiber officinale rhizome as an antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and flavoring agent. This study has shown that ethyl acetate extract of Zingiber officinale rhizome possessed antimicrobial activity and the powdered samples were observed to have high nutritional value. Thus, our study has established a scientific proof for the traditional use of Zingiber officinalerhizomein the treatment of infections and the potential of the stem in food and pharmaceutical industries.