Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of ginger, saffron and red pepper extracts

Abstract

The current study investigated the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of ginger, saffron, and redpepper extracts. The extracts of plants were prepared by adding plant powder to distilled water andstirring at 60°C for 24 h. The antioxidant capacity was measured utilizing DPPH radical scavenging.The increasing order of antioxidant activity at 1 mg/mL concentration was as follows: saffron(78.5%) < ginger (79.3%) < red pepper (83.4%) < ascorbic acid (99.7%, as control). The TPC forginger, red pepper, and saffron was 9.78 ± 1.42, 4.72 ± 0.85, and 6.41 ± 0.63 mg GAE/g,respectively. The TFC for ginger, red pepper, and saffron was 3.74 ± 0.65, 8.78 ± 0.42, and 2.61 ±0.34 mg QE/g, respectively. The antimicrobial activities of plant extracts were assessed using theminimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Thesaffron extract had the highest inhibitory effect against Bacillus cereus (MIC = 3.12 mg/mL, MBC= 6.25 mg/mL) and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 6.25 mg/mL, MBC = 12.5 mg/mL). Gingerextract also showed high efficacy, especially against S. aureus (MIC = 3.12 mg/mL). In contrast,red pepper extract had a less potent effect on the studied species. The findings of this study showedthat plant extracts had suitable antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, making them a good choicefor use as natural preservatives in various industries.