Bioactivity of Mushroom (Pleurotus pulmonaris) Extract on Some Food Pathogens

The interest in discovering and developing natural antimicrobial has significantly increased due to consumer preferences for food that are free of chemical preservatives while still microbiologically safe. One of the best sourced natural antimicrobials is certain mushrooms as many of them not only have nutraceutical functions but also possess antimicrobial properties. For this work, matured mushroom (Pleurotus pulmonaris) was harvested, clean, dried, and milled into powder. Bioactive extracts were done in ratios of 25 g +200 ml, 50 g + 200 ml, and 100 g + 200 ml both for water and ethanol extracts. The treatments were tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The results showed that Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were resistant to water extract of mushroom at the concentrations used. Ethanol extracts showed that sample C containing 50 g of milled mushroom compounds had the highest diameter of inhibitory zone of 1.8 cm for Escherichia coli and 1.3 cm for Staphylococcus aureus. Results also indicated samples B and D were not significantly different from each other though there were microbial inhibitions. This report concludes that further study should be carried out to determine the effective of the extract on field crops and stored produce.