Antimicrobial activities of essential oils and crude extracts from tropical Citrus spp. against food-related microorganisms

Ethyl acetate extracts and hydrodistillated-essential oils from peels of Citrus spp. were investigated for their antimicrobial activities against food related microorganisms by broth microdilution assay. Overall, ethyl acetate extracts from all citrus peels showed stronger antimicrobial activities than their essential oils obtained from hydrodistillation. The ethyl acetate extract of kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix DC.) peel showed broad spectrum of inhibition against all Gram-positive bacteria, yeast and molds including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. sake and Aspergillus fumigatus TISTR 3180. It exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 0.28 and 0.56 mg/ml against Sac. cerevisiae var. sake and B. cereus, respectively while the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values against both microbes were 0.56 mg/ml. The MIC values of the extract against L. monocytogenes, A. fumigatus TISTR 3180 and S. aureus were 1.13 mg/ml while the MBC values against L. monocytogenes as well as A. fumigatus TISTR 3180 and S. aureus were 2.25 and 1.13 mg/ml, respectively. The major components of the ethyl acetate extract from kaffir lime were limonene (31.64 %), citronellal (25.96 %) and b-pinene (6.83 %) whereas b-pinene (30.48 %), sabinene (22.75 %) and citronellal (15.66 %) appeared to be major compounds of the essential oil obtained from hydrodistillation.