Evaluation of Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oil of Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) Pomace Powder

This study aimed to determine the chemical compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Essential Oil (EO) derived from lime pomace. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine the major components of the obtained EO. The antioxidant activities of this EO were determined by radical scavenging activity (DPPH) and the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) test. For antimicrobial activity, the disk diffusion method was used and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) and the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) were studied against common foodborne pathogens including; Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The result showed that the Gram-positive bacteria were more susceptible than gram-negative bacteria. The result shows that lime pomace powder with IC50 83.061 mg/mL has a high antioxidant capacity and also, the chemical analysis of the EO showed that the EO contained a complex mixture of several components and the main constituents were D-limonene (28.86%), alpha- terpinene (15.65%) and gamma-terpinene (12.72%) respectively.