Abstract—The genus Curcuma belongs to the family Zingiberaceae consist of 40 species, in tropical Asia. Most of the genus of this family is well-known medicinal plant. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts of four Curcuma variety, i.e. Curcuma longa (turmeric), Curcuma caesia (Black turmeric), Curcuma amada (Mango ginger) and Curcuma aromatica (Van turmeric) were prepared from the rhizome. The antimicrobial properties of both of the extract were studied by testing the antibacterial as well as antifungal activity. The antibacterial activity test was done by agar well diffusion method against two gram positive, i.e., Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis and one gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial strain. For antifungal activity Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus were used as a test fungal strains. The zone of inhibition of the extracts were determined and compared with the standard drugs tetracycline and fluconazole to know the efficiency. The ethanolic extract of Curcuma longa and Curcuma aromatica was found to have both antibacterial and antifungal activity. The aqueous extract of all plant did not show any significant inhibitory activity against microbes. 

Index Terms—antimicrobial activity, curcuma species, rhizome, agar well diffusion method, thin layer chromatography

Cite: Jha Harit, Anand Barapatre, Mithlesh Prajapati, Keshaw Ram Aadil, and Sunil Senapati, "Antimicrobial Activity of Rhizome of Selected Curcuma Variety," International Journal of Life Sciences Biotechnology and Pharma Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 183-189, July 2013.