Antibacterial activity of Aspongopus viduatus (melon bug) oil

Abstract

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. © 2008, The Author(s).