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Biology Core Practical 9 - Antimicrobial Properties

1) The document describes an experiment testing the antimicrobial properties of garlic and mint. Garlic contains allicin, which kills bacteria and viruses, while mint only has mild anesthetic properties. 2) Paper disks soaked in crushed garlic or mint water were placed on agar plates streaked with bacteria. The zones of inhibition were measured after 24 hours of incubation. 3) Garlic produced larger zones of inhibition (average 17.29mm) than mint (average 0.57mm), indicating garlic has stronger antimicrobial effects. This led the author to reject the null hypothesis that garlic and mint would produce equal inhibition zones.

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258 views3 pages

Biology Core Practical 9 - Antimicrobial Properties

1) The document describes an experiment testing the antimicrobial properties of garlic and mint. Garlic contains allicin, which kills bacteria and viruses, while mint only has mild anesthetic properties. 2) Paper disks soaked in crushed garlic or mint water were placed on agar plates streaked with bacteria. The zones of inhibition were measured after 24 hours of incubation. 3) Garlic produced larger zones of inhibition (average 17.29mm) than mint (average 0.57mm), indicating garlic has stronger antimicrobial effects. This led the author to reject the null hypothesis that garlic and mint would produce equal inhibition zones.

Uploaded by

ZiFi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Zara Reza

Biology Core Practical 9 - Antimicrobial Properties


Allicin is an active component found in garlic. Effective killer of bacteria and viruses
Mint has mild anaesthetic property but does not contain any antimicrobial properties.

Null Hypothesis
There will be no significant difference in the size of inhibition zones produced by Garlic and Mint.

Method
Aseptic technique must be used for this experiment to prevent contamination from pathogens. Heat a wire
loop until it is red hot, then wait for it to cool down. Flame the mouth of the tube where the bacteria are, then
use the loop of wire to dip into the bacteria you need. Streak the bacteria across the surface of the agar on the
Petri plate with a zig-zag, immediately sealing the Petri plate afterwards.

Get garlic and crush it up with a mortar and pestle into correspondent quantities, i.e mass, volume, etc. then
dilute in water. Make small paper discs and soak them into the garlic/mint water. Place paper disks into the
Petri plate containing bacteria and close the lid right after and incubate for 24h at no more than 30ºC as
pathogens could enter the human body and survive.

Measure the diameter of each zone of inhibition, for both garlic and mint Petri plates and record into a table,
repeat experiment at varying concentrations of garlic/mint and work out average, then plot results into a graph.

Dependent Variable:
- Zone of inhibition cm²
Independent Variable:
- Substance tested (garlic and mint)
Control Variables:
- Type and amount of bacteria use
- Contamination of culture
- Temperature of cultures
- pH of medium
- Size of paper discs

Statistical Analysis

Test Number Garlic Mint

1 13 0

2 22 1

3 20 0

4 17 1

5 18 0

6 18 1

7 13 1
Zara Reza

Garlic SD & SE:


Mean:
13+22+20+17+18+18+13
= 121/7
= 17.29 (2dp)

Sum of each value minus the mean all squared:


13-17.29 = (-4.29)² = 18.40
22-17.29 = (4.71)² = 22.18
20-17.29 = (2.71)² = 7.34
17-17.29 = (-0.29)² = 0.08
18-17.29 = (0.71)² = 0.50
18-17.29 = (0.71)² = 0.50
13-17.29 = (-4.29)² = 18.40

Total = 67.4

SD:
√67.4/7-1
= 3.35 (2dp)

SE:
3.35/√7
= 1.27 (2dp)

Mint SD & SE:


Mean:
0+1+0+1+0+1+1
= 4/7
= 0.57 (2dp)

Sum of each value minus the mean all squared:


0-0.57 = (-0.57)² = 0.32
1-0.57 = (0.43)² = 0.18
0-0.57 = (-0.57)² = 0.32
1-0.57 = (0.43)² = 0.18
0-0.57 = (-0.57)² = 0.32
Zara Reza
1-0.57 = (0.43)² = 0.18
1-0.57 = (0.43)² = 0.18

Total = 1.68

SD:
√1.68/7-1
= 0.53 (2dp)

SE:
0.53/√7
= 0.20 (2dp)

Graph:

Conclusion
I reject my null hypothesis as there is a significant difference between the antimicrobial properties of garlic
and mint. Garlic has stronger antimicrobial properties than mint, which acts as a mild anaesthetic, whereas
garlic interferes with lipid synthesis and RNA production in bacteria, which inhibits growth, leading to the death
of bacteria.

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