PHYTOCHEMICALS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF CRUDE DICHLOROMETHANE EXTRACT OF HYPHANE THABAICA (DOUM PALM) ROOT

Hyphaene thebaica is commonly referred to as doum, and it is a type of palm tree with edible oval fruit which belongs to the mint family (Arecaceae). It grows in ‘wadis’ and at oases, but it is considered as drought-tolerant and sometimes grows on rocky hillsides with very resistant to destruction by fire in scrub or a forest. The fruit of the plant was air dried at room temperature for two weeks and pulp was crushed into fine powder. A resulting plant powder was macerated using dichloromethane, concentrated via rotary shaker at 200 rpm for 72 h and obtained crude methanol extract and then stored in an air tight container for phytochemical screening and antibacterial activity. The result revealed the presence of appreciable amount of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, polyphenols, carbohydrates, steroids, saponins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides and terpenoids with good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli at high concentration.