CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter discusses the review of relate literature and studies cited on

the antibacterial activity of the A. carambola leaves.

Related Literature

Star Fruit Description

Averrhoa carambola is a species of tree in the family Oxalidaceae; it has a

number of common names, including carambola and starfruit. Starfruit is believed

to have originated in Ceylon and the Maluccas, but it has been cultivated in the

Southeast Asia and Malaysia for hundreds of years (Dasgupta, 2013). It is known

for its unique star shape and rich golden color. The fruit was found to be oblong

in shape, in average, being 7.92 cm long and 5.24 cm in width (Narain, 2001).

Leaves of the said plant are 15-25 cm long, alternate, spirally arranged, ovate to

ovate-oblong in shape, imparipinnate, shortly petiolate with 5-11 green pedant

leaflets of 2-9 cm long and 1-4.5 cm wide (Dasgupta, 2013). A starfruit tree is

usually small or medium in height (22 to 33 ft.; 7 to 10 m), spreading 20 to 25 ft.

in diameter; 6 to 7.6 m, evergreen, and single or multi-trunked. It can adapt well

in different types of soils. But these grow best where the soil reaction is

moderately acid to neutral pH. (Crane, 2001).

Star Fruit Uses

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Plantae

Subkingdom: Tracheobionta

Superdivision: Spermatophyta

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Subclass: Rosidae

Order: Geraniales

Family: Oxalidaceae

Genus: Averrhoa L.

Species: Averrhoa carambola L.

Health Benefits of Star Fruit

Related Studies

Antibacterial Activity of Star Fruit

A comprehensive study conducted on the phytochemical and antibacterial

activity of the petroleum ether extract of Averrhoa carambola leaves. The

researchers conducted phytochemical screening which showed the presence of

flavonoid, carbohydrate, glycoside and steroid. In testing the antibacterial

property of the extract, among the ten test subjects, it is confirmed that the

extract showed large inhibition in Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosia,

Escherichia coli, and Bacillus megaterium, which indicates the antibacterial

activity of the extracts against these bacteria (Das, J. et al., 2013).

The study conducted by Das, B.N., and Ahmed, M. in 2012, with ethanolic

fruit extract of Averrhoa carambola for its antibacterial and cytotoxic activities.

Disk diffusion method was used in antibacterial activity evaluation and for

cytotoxic activity; brine shrimp lethality bioassay was performed to estimate LC50

values. The water extract of the A. carambola performed significant antibacterial

activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus while the

dichloromethane extract also showed antibacterial activity against Escherichia

coli and Salmonella typhi. The dichloromethane soluble partitionate showed

strong cytotoxicity against the brine shrimp, Artemia salina with an LC50 of 1.180

µg/mL.

M.A. Mustafa, et al. (2014) have studied the extracts of freshly harvested

dragon fruit, starfruit and mangosteen and were assessed against the pathogenic

bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli.

The researchers extracted different fractions from the edible fruit portions using

hexane, methanol, acetone and ethyl acetate and were assessed for

antimicrobial activity. It was detected that the A. carambola ethanolic extract and

acetone extracts at a concentration as low as 20 ppm have has antimicrobial

activity. It also showed the highest phenolic content on the methanolic extract of

A. Carambola.
 The plant extract of A. carambola showed moderate level of growth

inhibition against Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pyogens,

Pseudomonas spp. And Staphylococcus saprophyticus whereas potent inhibition

activity against Shigella dysenteriae (zone of inhibition 9 mm at 500 mg/kg body

weight compared to standard drug kanamycin (zone of inhibition 10 mm at 30

µg/disc) (Hossain, T., et al., 2017).

Research findings of Ariharan, et. al., that fruit juice of A. carambola star

fruit has vitamin C content of 16.26 mg/g. Antibacterial activity were carried out in

order to ascertain the disease resistance property of the fruit juice and it showed

that the gram positive has 70% inhibition and the gram negative bacteria has

65% inhibition efficiency.

Antifungal Activity of Star Fruit

A study in antimicrobial activity of 3 different solvent extracts (Aqueous,

Ethyl Acetate and Petroleum ether) of A. carambola leaves primarily its antifungal

property was conducted against pathogenic Fungi and Yeast using agar well

diffusion method. It can be concluded that the above The Ethyl Acetate extract of

Averrhoa carambola was found to be most effective antifungal activity against

Mucor hiemalis, Alternaria alternate, Fusarium eumartii, Candida albicans and

Sacchromyces cerevisiae (Mewara, D., Tamakuwala, H. and Desai, B., 2017).

Methods in Evaluating Antimicrobial Activity

A study conducted by Das, B. N., and Ahmed, M. of the antimicrobial and

cytotoxic activity of the methanolic extract of Averrhoa carambola. Disk diffusion

technique was used to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of A. carambola with

various gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute or CLSI published an accepted

and approved standards for Disk diffusion technique for bacteria and yeast

testing (Balouiri M., Sadiki M., Ibnsouda S. K., 2016).

Another study conducted once again by Dimpal Mewara, Honey

Tamakuwala, and Dr. Binita Desai of the antifungal activity of A. carambola leaf

extract. In testing its antifungal activity, agar well assay technique was used.

Agar well method is technique that is widely used in antimicrobial activity of

plants or microbial extracts. It is similar to Disk-diffusion method but the

difference is; a hole is punched (6 to 8mm) in the agar plate in which the extract

is induced into the well (Balouiri M., Sadiki M. and Ibnsouda S. K., 2016).