Determination of antibacterial and anti-biofilm potential of Kewda essential oil against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae

The Kewda essential oil (KEO) extracted from Pandanus odorifer male flower was evaluated for its phytochemical profiles, antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and their reference strains, MTCC 740 and MTCC 109 respectively. As evident from GC-MS analysis, the phytochemical profiles revealed the presence of 2-phenyl ethyl methyl ether (PEME) and Terpinen-4-ol as prominent secondary metabolites. The MIC of KEO was 5% (v/v) against all the test bacteria. The KEO exhibited strong antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities against test bacteria. A significant reduction in the biofilm production was observed with an inhibition of 67.51 +/- 1.29% and 61.17 +/- 3.75% against K. pneumoniae and 71.76 +/- 4.56% and 59.3 +/- 6.24% against S. aureus. The light and fluorescence microscopic analysis confirmed a significant decrease in the density and thickness of the biofilm matrix against both the clinical and reference strains when treated with sub-MIC of KEO.