Abstract:
Purpose: Samanea saman whole pod (SSWP) has a potential to be used as an ingredient in broiler feed
while its pod extract has antimicrobial properties. There is however, insufficient information on the use
of Samanea saman whole pod extract (SSWPE) as antimicrobial agent in meat products. This study
was aimed at assessing the antimicrobial effect of SSWPE against bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis,
Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus feacalis, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella
typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and assessing the potential of using SSWPE
on chicken patties in order to reduce the microbial contaminants.
Research Method: Agar well diffusion method and Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) method were
used to determine the antimicrobial activity in the pod extract. In order to investigate the antibacterial
effect of S. saman extract in chicken patties, total plate counts and selective plate counts (to enumerate
Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were carried out on refrigerated chicken
patties stored for 1, 7 and 14 days. The data generated from the study were subjected to one-way analysis
of variance (ANOVA).
Results: The result of Agar well diffusion method showed that the SSWPE was active against all the
tested bacteria with varying mean zones of inhibition. S. saman ethanolic whole pod extract has shown
the 25 µg /ml as the minimum inhibition concentration against both Gram positive and Gram negative
bacteria used in the study when compared to the standard Ciprofloxacin at 1µg /ml. The total microbial
counts of the chicken patties with various treatments showed increase in total microbial counts with
increment of the time of storage from day 1 to 14. Salmonella and Pseudomonas were absent in chicken
patties at the day 1 and in other two sampling points (day 7 and 14) whereas Escherichia coli was
present at day 1 in T4, T5 and in day 14 in T5.
Original Value: Thus the extract of S. saman whole pods has a potential of serving as antimicrobial
agent at the minimum inhibition concentration of 25 µg /ml.
