Antibacterial activity of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) oil against some selected pathogenic bacterias

Objective: To find the effectiveness of essential oil of lemongrass for the treatment of pathogenic organisms. Methods: Lemongrass oil was investigated for activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), using Agar Diffusion Method and Broth Dilution Method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined by the Broth Dilution Method. The antibiotic susceptibility test against the test. organisms was performed by Disc Diffusion Method. Results: Lemongrass was found effective against all the test organisms except P. aeruginosa. Gram positive organisms were found more sensitive to lemon grass oil as compared to gram negative organisms. The test organisms were found inhibited by Lemon grass oil at lower concentrations in Broth Dilution Method as compared to Agar Diffusion Method. Conclusions: The tested organisms, particularly gram-negative organisms had shown high resistance towards different antibiotics whereas they were found to be inhibited by lemongrass oil even at lower concentration. Thus lemongrass oil is effective against drug resistant organisms. It can be suggested that use of lemongrass oil would be helpful in the treatment of infections caused by multidrug resistant organisms.