Antimicrobial activity of different Citrus species against different pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

The rapid growth of the food processing industry and the consumption of processed foods are demanding some natural antimicrobial agents because of their non-toxic nature in long-term uses. The present study was conducted to determine the antimicrobial potential of peel extract of four Citrus species collected from four different districts of Uttrakhand, India viz. (Citrus aurentifolia, Citrus jambhiri, Citrus lemon and Citrus sinensis) having different altitude. The activity was performed by agar well diffusion method against two gram-positive and three gram-negative bacteria. The results concluded that out of four citrus species, the Citrus lemon and Citrus sinensis showed a significant antimicrobial potential against all isolated bacterial strains but among these five bacteria the antimicrobial activity against bacillus subtilis showed maximum and hence they can be used as a natural antimicrobial agent in the food processing industry.