Durian (Durio zibethinus) hull extract as an antimicrobial agent

Abstract

The study determined the feasibility of the Durian hull extract, in inhibiting the growth of the microorganisms namely, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The study was conducted from June - October of 2012. The researchers identified whether the durian hull extract can inhibit the microbial growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and if there is a significant difference on the antimicrobial activity of Durian hull extract between microbial colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The researchers utilized the classic experimental design to establish a causal connection between the Durian hull extract (anti-microbial agent) as an independent variable. The experiment involved the collection of Durian hull and preparation of its extract via Rotary evaporation. Preparation of assay plate is accomplished through swabbing of the microbes, then left 24 hours to colonize. In the microbial assay test, the potentialities of the extract were tested on two microbes, through application of the durian hull extract treated on a paper disc. The experimental set up was composed of 4 plates each microorganism. Each plate has 3 paper discs; disc 1 was treated with normal saline solution as the negative control while disc 2 and 3 were treated with the Durian hull extract. The set up makes a total of 8 trials for each microbes in which the zones of inhibitions are measured against the negative control. The statistical treatment utilized was ANOVA. The results showed that Durian hull extract inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria as evidently manifested by zones of inhibition. On the other hand, Saccharomyces cerevisiae fungi does not show any clearing in the area. This inhibition of P. aeroginosa is linked to the reaction of Sulfanilamide component of durian that infers conversion of para-aminobenzoate (PABA) to folate. S. cerevisae for para-aminobenzoate (PABA) synthase has been indentified based upon its ability to confer sulfonamide resistance due to their identified DNA structure, suggesting that PABA synthase is bi-functional in yeast and it might not be effective.