The usage of essential oils as antimicrobial agents is gaining attention. Besides, pet turtles were known to harbor a range of pathogenic bacteria while the turtle keeping is a growing trend worldwide.The current study examined the antimicrobial activity of lemon grass oil (LGO) against seven species of Gram negative bacteria namely; Aeromonas hydrophila, A. caviae, Citrobacter freundii, Salmonella enterica, Edwardsiella tarda, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis isolated from three popular species of pet turtles. Along with the results of disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC and MBC) tests, LGO was detected as effective against 6 species of bacteria excluding P. aeruginosa. MIC of LGO for the strains except P. aeruginosa ranged from 0.016 to 0.5% (V/V). The lowest MIC recorded in the E. tarda strain followed by A. hydrophilla, C. freundii, P. mirabilis, and S. enterica. Interestingly, all the bacterial species except E. tarda were showing high multiple antimicrobial resistance (MAR) index values ranging from 0.36 to 0.91 upon the 11 antibiotics tested although they were sensitive to LGO.

The objective of this study was to increase the food usability of ricotta cheese. In this study, Ricotta cheese was manufactured with added lemon extract or red vinegar (calamansi, pomegranate, and green grape). Proximate composition, pH, color, cooking yield, water holding capacity, viscosity and sensory properties of ricotta cheese were measured. The protein contents of sample containing lemon was significantly higher than those in the red vinegar groups (p<0.05). The pH values sample containing lemon was significantly lower than those in the red vinegar groups (p<0.05). In color, the redness of sample containing pomegranate was significantly higher than those in the lemon, calamansi, and green grape (p<0.05). The cooking yields and water holding capacities was samples containing lemon, and calamansi were significantly higher than those in the pomegranate, and green grape (p<0.05). The viscosity was lemon, calamansi, pomegranate, and green grape increased in order. In sensory properties, color of the samples containing calamansi, and pomegranate showed significantly higher than those in the lemon, and green grape (p<0.05). And flavor of the samples containing lemon, and green grape showed significantly higher than those in the calamansi, and pomegranate (p<0.05). Tenderness, juiciness, overall acceptability were not showed significantly differ in all samples. These results indicate that ricotta cheese manufactured with calamansi, pomegranate, and green grape is not affect the overall acceptability, so various ricotta cheese using red vinegars can be manufactured.