PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL ANALYSIS OF HULLS AND NUT OF TERRACARPIDUM CONOPHORUM ON SELECTED GRAM POSITIVE AND GRAM NEGATIVE BACTERIA
Abstract
Nigeria is well known for various medicinal plants including Tetracarpidium
conophorum (upka) that have long been used for the treatment of a handful of
infectious diseases. T. conophorum is one of Nigeria’s valuable medicinal
plants found in the plant family Euphorbiaceae. This study evaluated the in
vitro antimicrobial activity of the hulls and nut (edible) of T. conophorum on
pathogenic microorganisms. Antimicrobial activities of the extracts from hull
and nut of T. conophorum was evaluated on pathogenic species of
Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, E. coli, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus species
using the agar well diffusion method. Phytochemical analysis of T. conophorum
extracts on aqueous, ethanol and n-hexane showed the presence of alkaloids,
glycosides, reduced compound sugar, carbohydrates, and protein in both hull
and nut. Antimicrobial analysis conducted confirmed the anti-bacterial and
antifungal potentials of T. conophorum plant. The inhibition zone diameter of
the soaked hull of T. conophorum against the bacterial isolates was in the range
of 10-18 mm while the IZD of the soaked nut of T. conophorum was in the
range of 10-17 mm for the bacterial isolates. The IZD of the plant extracts
against the fungal isolates was in the range of 11-13 mm. The ethanol and nhexane extracts of the soaked nut of T. conophorum plant had little
antimicrobial activity on the fungal isolates compared to the bacterial isolates
which were more susceptible to the antimicrobial activity of the plant.
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