Development and characterization of essential oils incorporated chitosan-based cues with antibacterial and antifungal potentialities

Herein, we report the characterization of chitosan-based cues incorporated with two different essential oils, i.e., tea tree oil (TTO) and clove oil (CO). The essential oils incorporated chitosan-based cues offer considerable solutions to eliminate pathogenic infections and/or to reduce microbial contaminations in healthcare facilities. In this background, chitosan(CST)-based cues were incorporated with TTO and CO and final cues were designated as CST-TTO and CST-CO. The loading efficiency was optimal in CST-TTO (91.5%) followed by CST-CO (83.3%). The optimally yielded both, CST-TTO and CST-CO were tested for antibacterial activities against two Gram+ve (Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis) and two Gram-ve strains (Escherichia coliandSalmonella typhimurium). An initial bacterial cell count (1.5 x 10(8) CFU/mL) was considered as a control value, and 2-log reduction was considered to report the antibacterial activity. The antifungal activity was tested against two Aspergillus strains, i.e., Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. The growth reduction for Aspergillus strains was recorded from 1 x 10(8) conidia/mL (initial count) to 1 x 10(2) conidia/mL (optimal inhibition) in the presence of CST-TTO and CST-CO. In summary, the results suggest that the newly developed CST-TTO and CST-CO cues can be potential candidates for food and biomedical applications as they hold promising capability to restrict some pathogenic and food spoilage microbes.