Effect of Increased Potassium Concentrations on the Growth and Major Bioactive Components of Zingiber Offinicale Roscoe and Antibacterial Activity of Crude Extract Against Bacterial Penumonia

Lai, Xuan Tung (2024) Effect of Increased Potassium Concentrations on the Growth and Major Bioactive Components of Zingiber Offinicale Roscoe and Antibacterial Activity of Crude Extract Against Bacterial Penumonia. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

Zingiber officinale Roscoe, commonly known as ginger plant, is a crop belonging to the Zingiberaceae family which exhibits high medicinal values as well as mouth-watering flavours. As a result, the market demand of ginger has always been high, especially during the recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the increasing antibiotic resistance of pneumonia-related bacteria such as S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae has become a global threat. Thus, the high medicinal values of ginger have enabled it to become a candidate for production of new antibiotics. Furthermore, potassium element is an essential macronutrient that plays a significant role in plant development. It is proven to stimulate and increase vegetative propagation and reproduction in plants, enhancing root development while also increasing the number of bioactive components in plants. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of increased potassium concentration on the growth, yield, photosynthesis rate, chlorophyl content and bioactive components of hydroponically cultivated ginger, as well as the antibacterial strength of crude ginger extracts against the bacteria strains mentioned above. After six months of cultivation, no significant differences were observed among various treatment on the plant height, photosynthesis rate, and chlorophyll content (P > 0.05). Although there is no significant difference of harvested yield, the number of leaves, total phenolic and flavonoid content accumulated in the ginger rhizome showed a significant increase (P < 0.05) compared to control, indicating the potential of increased potassium to be applied for the production of ginger with higher pharmaceutical values. Additionally, the MIC result showed that S. aureus exhibits the highest susceptibility when treated with ginger extracts, whereas P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae exhibit high resistance towards the ginger extract. Therefore, treatment of increased potassium levels shows a high potential to be applied in order to increase the growth and major bioactive components in ginger, and also creating antibiotics to inhibit pneumonia-related bacteria such as S. aureus. TLC profiling of crude ginger extracts using two solvent systems were carried out, where DCM: MeOH (99:1) shows a better separation compared to n-Hexane: Acetone (8:2).