Abstract

Red ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) a well known herb that was widely used as a remedy for various ailments in traditional medicine, belonged to the Zingiberaceae family. The red ginger had antibacterial properties. In the face of increasing bacterial resistance to various antibiotics and continuous efforts to look for new and safer antibacterial substances, the objective of this study was to assess the red ginger’s antibacterial potentials for treating mastitis. Mastitis was a common milking cows’ disease that caused a tremendous economic loss to dairy farms. Several bacteria that is,Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Streptococcus agalactiae were responsible for this loss. To achieve this objective 3 x 4 factorial experiment wasimplemented. Three bacterial isolates that is, S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and S. agalactiaewere tested with the following each concentration of the red ginger extracts that is, 50, 25, 12.50, and 6.25%. The findings were as followed: (1) S. epidermidis was most affected by the red ginger extract, followed by S. aureus and S. agalactiae, (2) the higher the concentration of the red ginger extracts, the higher the bacterial growth inhibition effect, and (3) the growth inhibition effects of the red ginger extracts on S. aureus, S. epidermidis,and S. agalactiae isolates were highly significantly different at α < 0.0001. Therefore, the red ginger the traditional remedy was effective in controlling the three mastitis causing bacteria’s growth.

Key words: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus agalactiae, red ginger, traditional medicine, mastitis.