Abstract:
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the most versatile medicinal plants that have been a variety
of biological activities due to the presence of large number of bioactive compounds. The present
study is conducted to evaluate phytochemical test, total phenolic content, antioxidant efficiency
and antibacterial activities using methanol, chloroform and n-hexane extracts. Phytochemical
screening of the crude extracts in methanol revealed the presence of alkaloids, phenolic
compounds, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, sterols and glycosides. Chloroform extract of
Zingiber officinale also contains alkaloids, phenolic, flavonoids, terpinoids, sterols and
glycosides. The n-hexane extract of Zingiber officinale is the least phytochemical components
which contains alkaloids, phenols, sterols and glycosides. The total phenolic content of methanol,
chloroform and n-hexane was 88.57 mgGAE/g, 65.86 mgGAE/g and 62.08 mgGAE/g dry samples
respectively. The antioxidant activities of each crude extract was screened using 2.2-diphenyl-1-
picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assays. IC50 values of Zingiber officinale were found to be 52.439 ppm ,
87.488ppm and 134.816 ppm in methanol, chloroform and n-hexane respectively for their
antioxidant activity by DPPH assay; the lower IC50 value which showed the radical scavenge
activity to be effective in this solvent extract. In the same condition methanol, chloroform and nhexane
extract
showed
high
antioxidant
activities.
The
antibacterial
activity
of
zingiber
officinale
extract
was performed against four bacterials species S. aureus, E coli, S. pyrogens, K.
pneumonia, at concentrations of 500 mg/mL, 250 mg/mL, 125 mg/mL and 62.5 mg/mL and 31.25
mg/ml. The result revealed that the methanol and chloroform extracts showed a better activity
against all disease causing pathogens bacterial while, at higher concentration n-hexane extracts
were active against microorganisms.