Evaluation of Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Lepidium meyenii (Maca)

With increasing infectious diseases as well as antimicrobial resistance in pathogens to existing drugs, researchers are now seeking for new drug candidates to be used as alternatives or complementary therapies. Maca is commonly used in traditional medication as herbal medicine.
M In this research, the antibacterial and antifungal activities of maca powder and ethanolic extract were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC29212, and Candida albicans ATCC10231 using Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), and disc diffusion methods. The obtained results showed that there was no significant difference between the MIC and MBC of maca powder and extract against the reference and clinical strains. Also, no strain showed zone of inhibition at 30, 40, 50, and 60 µl of reference concentration. According to the results obtained in this study, maca powder and extract had a poor inhibitory effect on bacterial and fungal growth.