Study on the Anti-bacterial Activity of Essential Oils from Perilla Leaves

Abstract

     The experiment was carried out to examine the anti-bacterial effects of essential oil from perilla leaves on eight spoilage and food poisoning bacteria strains (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa VTCC-B-657, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus feacium). The results indicated that perilla essential oil had anti-bacterial effects against all the above bacterial strains, except P. aeruginosa. The effect of perilla essential oil on gram-positive bacteria was stronger than that on gram-negative bacteria. The pure essential oil completely inhibited four strains of gram-positive bacteria, including Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus feacium, and one strain of gram-negative bacteria, namely P. fluorescens. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was more than 8192 μg/ml for both Escherichia coli and Salmonella and from 1024 μg/ml to 4096 μg/ml for the other five studied strains.