Abstract:
Garlic (Allium sativum) is widely used functional food ingredient in Sri Lanka. Although
garlic has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years, an investigation
into its mode of action is relatively recent. This study is investigated the antimicrobial
activity of garlic extract on Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus
at ambient (28±1 °C) and refrigerated (4 °C) extraction conditions and using different
extraction solvents (aqueous, chloroform and ethanol) obtained from the raw, cooked
and dehydrated garlic. Agar gel diffusion method was used to test the antimicrobial
activity of the culture extracts. The zone of inhibition around the wells indicated that the
selected organisms were sensitive to aqueous, chloroform and ethanol extracts of garlic.
Cooked garlic extracted by choloroform revealed higher inhibition zone against E. coli, S.
typhi and S. aureus. Chloroform extracts of raw, cooked and dehydrated garlic showed
effectiveness against Escherichia coli. Aqueous extracts of raw and dehydrated garlic
showed effectiveness against S. typhi and aqueous extracts of dehydrated garlic showed
effectiveness against S. aureus. This study showed that processed and raw garlic exhibit
antimicrobial activity with the polar and nonpolar solvents.
