ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF AQUEOUS AND ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF AFRAMOMUM MELEGUETA (ALLIGATOR PEPPER) ON SOME BACTERIAL ISOLATES.

Antibacterial activity of Aframomum melegueta was tested on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aerugenosa. Ethanol and distilled water were used as solvents for the extraction of the plant. The ethanolic extract was found to be most effective at high concentration of 50mg/ml on all the isolates. The zones of inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are 30mm, 15mm, 20mm, and 15mm respectively with ethanolic extract. The aqueous extract was found to be less effective when compared with ethanolic extract. The phytochemcial analysis carried out on Aframomum melegueta revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponin and flavonoid. When compared to the standard antibiotics, both plant extracts were less effective. Ciprofloxacin and gentamicin produced significantly higher inhibition zones against all three bacterial species, underscoring the superior potency of these conventional drugs. However, the plant extracts’ activity, although lower, was still notable, indicating the presence of compounds with antibacterial the phytochemical analysis present revealed, with varying intensities between the aqueous and ethanolic preparations. The ethanolic extract generally yielded stronger positive reactions for these metabolites, which may account for its greater antibacterial effect.