Antibacterial Properties of Cavendish Banana Peel (Yellow and Green) on Pathogens Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

The antibacterial properties of ethanol extracts of green and yellow Cavendish banana peels was done against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus using the agar disc diffusion method. The study revealed that the peel extract of yellow banana did not inhibit the growth of S. aureus but it inhibits the growth of E. coli with 9.3mm zone of inhibition. On the other hand, the peel extract of green Cavendish banana could inhibit the growth of both S. aureus (12.3mm) and E. coli (9.0mm) but only in minimal measurement indicating that S. aureus is intermediate and E. coli is resistant to the extract. The Gentamicin as the positive control showed a maximum antibacterial activity against the two bacteria showing that the bacteria are susceptible to this antibiotic. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the two extracts against S. aureus and E. coli were also performed to determine if the extracts are bacteriostatic. The data shown that at 100% down to .19% concentration exhibited no antibacterial effect on S. aureus and E. coli, hence all the test tubes showed observable growth of bacteria that made the solution very turbid. Since all the tubes were turbid, the determination of MBC was not prepared. The extracts were neither bacteriostatic nor bactericidal against S. aureus and E. coli. Keywords: Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, Cavendish banana peel, bacteriostatic, bactericidal, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines