Jurnal Kesehatan, ISSN 1979-7621, Vol. 4, No. 1, Juni 2011: 80-91 80 PENGARUH EKSTRAK JAHE (Zingiber officinale) TERHADAP PENGHAMBATAN MIKROBA PERUSAK PADA IKAN NILA ( Oreochromis niloticus) Eni Purwani dan Setyo Wulang Nur Hapsari Program Gizi, Fakultas Ilmu Kesehatan Universitas Muhammadyah Surakarta Jln A Yani Pabelan Kartasura Abstract Compared to Catfish, Tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) is more prospective to be cultivated since it has higher nutritional value. Tilapia is classified perishable because it decays quickly. Several natural substances have ability to preserve fish because they contain some components that have antimicrobial effects, for example ginger that contains gingerol, shogaol and zingerone. The aim of this experiment was to understand the influence of ginger extract (Zingiber officinale) to inhibit decaying microbe of Tilapia fish. This research implemented experimental method with 4 treatments and each treatment was replicated 2 times. Data were analysed by classifying inhibition level of each treatment. It showed that of 16 isolate, 10 of them had been inhibited. It was revealed that there were 4 types of microorganism, 2 were classified as gram positive while the rest were gram negative. Based on classi- fying inhibition level of each treatment, the greatest inhibition zone was found at IB 7 which was 25 mm and concentration 50% with type of microbe Bacillus alvei. Regard to inhibition level, gram positive microorganisms were inhibited more effectively. It can be concluded that application of ginger extract provided significant difference compared to no-extract treatment. Meanwhile, between those three per- centages of ginger extract application (50%, 60% and 70%) significant difference was not found in term of inhibition level. Keyword: ginger extract, inhibitor microbe, indigo fish PENDAHULUAN Ikan merupakan suatu bahan pa- ngan yang cepat mengalami proses pe- mbusukan (perishable food). Hal ini di- sebabkan karena beberapa hal seperti kandungan protein yang tinggi dan kondisi lingkungan yang sangat sesuai untuk pertumbuhan mikroba pem- busuk. Kadar air yang terkandung di dalam ikan sebagai faktor utama pe- nyebab kerusakan bahan pangan. Se- makin tinggi kadar air suatu bahan pangan maka semakin besar kemung- kinan kerusakannya, baik sebagai aki- bat aktivitas biologis internal (metabo- lisme) maupun masuknya mikroba perusak (Pandit dkk, 2008). Ikan nila merupakan salah satu jenis ikan budidaya air tawar yang me- mpunyai prospek cukup baik untuk