Antibacterial Effect of Some Wild Allium Species in Palestine Compared with Cultivars Allium cepa and Allium sativum

Fourteen wild Allium species are collected, classified and extracted by three extraction methods (ethanol, water and fresh) and tested for their antimicrobial activity on five strains of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aurues. This is besides the cultivated one Allium sativum and Allium cepa by broth microdilution method. Allium qasyunense showed the highest antibacterial activity against MRSA strains by recording the lowest MIC and MBC values. Water leaf extract of A. qasyunense showed the highest antibacterial activity against MRSA strain 5 at 1.56 mg/ml. Ethanolic leaf extract of the same species showed highest antibacterial activity against the same MRSA strain at 0.049 mg/ml. While, its fresh bulb extract showed the highest antibacterial activity at MIC= 0.49 mg/ml against MRSA strain 1. From this work, it was conclude that the part of plant and the extract type affected the antibacterial activity. For example leaf part when extracted by ethanol give higher antibacterial activity than water since ethanol helps in saving the stability of organosulfur compounds such as allicin. In case of plant part, Bulb part possessed higher antibacterial activity than the leaf part. The study revealed that wild Allium species have higher antibacterial activity than the cultivated one A. cepa and A. sativum.