ABSTRACT
Plant has potential as new candidate antimicrobial agents. Medicinal herbs and plants have shown antimicrobial activity such as growth inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus, Gram negative organisms, Microsporium lenosum as well as Bacillus subtilis. Plants and parts of plants are well known for their nutritional importance. They are proved rich sources of protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, folic acid, carotene, riboflavin and minerals such as calcium, iron and phosphorous.
This study analyzed the proximate parameters of the powdered Cymbopogon citratus rhizome as well as the chemical constituents of the ethyl acetate extract of Cymbopogon citratus rhizome Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis.
Proximate and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis were carried out with standard Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) methods respectively.
Result obtained showed an oily orange-brown coloured extract with a yield of 11.11%. Proximate studies revealed the presence of carbohydrate (63.11%) and crude protein (13.26%). The results obtained by GC-MS analysis of the ethyl acetate of Cymbopogon citratus rhizome showed the presence of 20 components, of which there were 3 major peaks which includes; naphthalene (43.53%), di-epi-alpha-cedrene (17.86%), and 6-tetramethylnaphthalene (13.50%). Other components include aziridine, alloaromadendrene. buten-1-ol, pyrazole-4-arboxaldehyde, acetic acid, propanenitrile (2.55%), methanone, trans-geranyl geranoil, terephthalic acid, cyclodocosane, pentane, hexanoic acid, carboxamide, propanoic acid and sarcosylsarcosine
This study has shown that the rhizomes of Cymbopogon citratus were observed to have high nutritional value and has established a scientific proof for the traditional use of Cymbopogon citratus as a source of food for humans and animal feed.
