Chemical Composition of Turmeric Oil (Curcuma longa L. cv. Roma) and its Antimicrobial Activity against Eye Infecting Pathogens

The essential oil from the rhizomes of Roma cultivar of turmeric (Curcuma longa) from Orissa was examined for its antimicrobial activity against the pathogens causing eye infections. The oil was obtained by hydrodistillation extraction method using Clevenger apparatus. Chemical analysis of the oil was done by using gas chromatography
and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The antimicrobial effects of oil towards Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger were tested by inhibition zone diameter (IZD) test to screen the antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test and minimum killing time (MKT) test to determine the minimum concentration of oil and minimum time required to kill the pathogens. Oil showed very good activity against all four microbial strains used at concentration of 10 μL except Pseudomonas aerugenosa. Very low concentration of 1.95 μL/mL oil was needed to inhibit the growth of most highly infecting pathogen Staphylococcus aureus within 15 min of its exposure in comparison to other microbial strains. High turmerone content (49.76%) of elite turmeric cultivar Roma released from Orissa (India) might be assigned to be responsible for such excellent anti microbial activity against the tested pathogens. The purpose of this study is to authenticate the use of turmeric rhizome oil against eye infections so as to giving an approach to formulate turmeric rhizome oil as potential eye drop in place of traditional antibiotics after undertaking its in vivo pharmacological studies.