ABSTRACT

The increasing incidence of drug-resistant pathogens and toxicity of existing antibacterial compounds has drawn attention toward the antimicrobial activity of natural products. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of the leaves and seeds of Coriandrum sativum. The five strains of bacteria comprising Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica, Salmonella enterica and Vibrio cholera were used for the antibacterial tests. In this study, antimicrobial effects of the essential oil from the leaves and seeds of Coriandrum sativum are evaluated by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), the inhibition zone and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The essential oil from Coriandrum sativum was extracted by steam distillation. The results indicate that the antimicrobial activities against the five pathogens were in the range of 2.5–320 µg/mL. Increase in essential oil concentration caused significant increase in inhibitory feature. The essential oil of the leaves and seeds of Coriandrum sativum showed antimicrobial activity against the food-borne pathogenic bacteria. Thus, its oil can be used as an alternative to synthetic food preservative without toxic effects. Also, it can be used in biotechnological fields as ingredients in antibiotics and the pharmaceutical industry. These results suggest that the essential oil of C sativum leaves and seeds may have potential use in pharmaceutical and food industries for preservatives or antimicrobial agents.