3. Results and discussion
Four samples of chitosan –CH1, CH2, CH3 and CH4,having varying mol.
wt and DD were used for the screeningstudy. The antimicrobial activity of the four samples was
compared in solution using the agar plate zone of inhibition method.
The results did not reveal any specific relationship between the molecular weight, DD and the antimicrobial activity of chitosan samples,
Fig. 2. The chitosan sample, CH3 having the highest degree of deacetylation(DD 93%) and moderate molecular weight (29 kDa) showed highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus
and E. coli for most concentrations studied and was chosen for further study. It is henceforth referred to as CH.