Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of a hydroalcoholic extract from jaboticaba (Plinia cauliflora) skin and seeds
Jaboticaba (Plinia cauliflora (Mart.) O. Berg. genotype Jabuticaba-açu) is a native fruit from Brazil with interesting functional properties; it is widely consumed as fresh fruit and is used to process jelly, jams, wines and liqueurs. The skin/seeds are the residues from the processing that represents around 45% of the fruit and the skin is rich in polyphenols, fibers, minerals, anthocyanins and others. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of hydroalcoholic extracts from jaboticaba skin, seeds and skin seeds. Ripe fruits were purchased from CEASA, in Aracaju-SE and was processed in Food Technology Department at UFS. After sanitation, jabuticaba was pulped and it was separated in three parts: skin, seeds and skin seeds. It was dried in a forced air dryer (40 °C) until obtained constant weight. After drying, they were ground in a knife mill to obtain the three kinds of flours. Subsequently, the flours were used to prepare the extracts using a solution of 80% ethyl alcohol at the ratio 0.5 g/mL, the solutions were stored for 15 days in an amber flask. After this period, the extracts were filtered under vacuum and concentrated in a rotary evaporator to obtain a hydroalcoholic extract. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the references strains: Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated by two methods: the paper disc diffusion and the spot-on-the-lawn. The results showed inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus whereas no inhibition was observed for the Gram-negative bacteria tested. The skin extract showed a higher antimicrobial activity (8 mm) compared to the skin and seeds extract (7 mm) and to the seed extract (6 mm), these is probably due to the higher amount of phenolic compounds presented at the skin compared to the others extracts tested.