ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ASPONGOPUS VIDUATUS (MELON BUG) OIL

What is it about?

Aspongopus viduatus (melon bug) oil is insect oil used as famine food in western parts of Sudan and has traditional medicinal uses. The antibacterial activities of melon bug crude oil, silicic acid column purified oil and phenolic compounds-free oil were determined by agar diffusion assay against seven bacterial isolates, four of them are food-related bacterial species: Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi, Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus, and the three other isolates are: B. subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The main constituents of this oil were examined. The crude oil and the phenolic compounds-free oil showed high antibacterial activities against some test species while the silicic acid column purified oil showed no antibacterial activity. The study highlights the possibility of using this oil in food preservation.

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Why is it important?

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS In this study, the antimicrobial properties and main components of insect oil (Aspongopus viduatus) were identified. The oil has traditional medicinal uses in human and animal skin diseases and is also used for meat dressing before drying in western regions of Sudan. The oil has long stability against rancidity because of its high oleic acid content. This oil in its crude form or phenolic compounds-free form could be used in meat and meat products preservation processes to control gram-positive bacteria.