The Antibacterial Activities of Piper betle and Allium cepa Extracts Against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Indonesia rich in biodiversity, both animals and plants. This is known as ethnobotany. Local people learn to use natural herbs to meet their daily needs, and some commonly used herbs are Piper betle (betel leaf) and Allium cepa (red onion). They often use P. betle or A. cepa to cure various skin infections, one of which is furuncles. This study aimed to explore ethanol extracts of P. betle, A. cepa, and their combination against Staphylococcus aureus, the main bacterial cause of furuncles, using petri dish. The inhibition zones in petri dishes were measured using a caliper to evaluate the antibacterial efficacy. Each sample was tested with 3 replicates and kanamycin was used as positive control. The P. betle extract exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect with an inhibition zone of 17.70 ± 0.30 mm, followed by P. betle and A. cepa with ratio 1:1 produced an inhibition zone of 15.63 ± 0.58 mm. The ethanol extract of A. cepa showed the lowest inhibition zone only 14.38 ± 0.35 mm and this inhibition zone was similar to that of kanamycin as positive control.Bakteri Staphylococcus aureus sering menjadi penyebab terjadinya infeksi kulit salah satunya adalah bisul. Masyarakat lokal di daerah Jawa Tengah banyak menggunakan kombinasi ekstrak Piper betle (daun sirih) dan Allium cepa (bawang merah) dalam mengobati bisul sehingga menarik untuk dikaji lebih lanjut. Dalam penelitian ini, potensi antibakteri dari setiap ekstrak dan kombinasinya dievaluasi menggunakan metode difusi agar. Ekstrak P. betle (kode 105) menunjukkan efek penghambatan terkuat, dengan zona penghambatan 17,70 ± 0,30 mm diikuti oleh ekstrak A. cepa (kode 103) dengan zona penghambatan hanya 14,38 ± 0,35 mm. Kombinasi ekstrak dengan perbandingan 1:1 (kode 104) menghasilkan zona penghambatan 15,63 ± 0,58 mm. Selanjutnya, ekstrak dimasukkan ke dalam spons poliuretan steril agar lebih dapat merekat lebih lama pada bisul dan higienis.