Antibacterial Ability of Chitosan Derived from Different Species of Beetles

Finding and applying antibacterial substances that are both safe and effective is essential for preventing bacterial illnesses by inhibiting their growth. So far, the active ingredient chitosan, which has been isolated from insects, has shown promise as an antibacterial tool. The chitosan was obtained from four species of beetles Oryctus rhinoceros, Lanelater species, Anomala bengalensis, and Anomala varicolor, by chemical extraction method, had a moderate degree of deacetylation 69.31 to 69.54. Five bacterial strains with different characters of pathogenicity or non pathogenic properties have been used to examine antibacterial activity of chitosan. Along with this both positive and negative controls are also employed to confirm the inhibitory activity of chitosan. The measurements of zones of bacterial growth inhibition have shown that all the five species of bacteria are susceptible to the chitosan samples derived from four species of beetles as well to Gentamicin, the positive control used and the standard chitosan derived from prawn with 80% deacetylation. The distilled water and 0.2% acetic acid used as negative control did not inhibit the growth of any of the bacterial species used in this experiment. Lesser concentration of chitosan (10 µg,15 µg/1ml) below 20µg in 1ml of 0.2% acetic acid failed to inhibit the bacterial growth. This investigation has determined that chitosan generated from beetles can serve as alternative for commercial chitosan and Gentamicin to inhibit bacterial growth.