Evaluation Of The Antimicrobial Activity Of Xylopia Aethiopica (Uda) And Afromomum Melegueta (Alligator Pepper):- Ukwuoma, Eunice

ABSTRACT

Antimicrobial activity of Xylopia aethiopica and Aframomum melegueta extracts were tested on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ethanol and distilled water were used as solvents for the extraction of the plants. Both the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of the two samples were found to be most effective at high concentration of 250mg/ml on all the bacterial isolates, and less effective at low concentration of lOOmg/ml. The phytochemical analysis carried out on Xylopia aethiopica revealed the presence of tannin, saponin, cardiac glycoside, balsam, and volatile oil. Aframomum melegueta revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponin, steroids, cardiac glycoside, flavonoid, terpenoids and phenol. The presence ofthese phytochemicals, support the use of these plants as antimicrobial agents. Aframomum melegueta and Xylopia aethiopica can therefore be used as antimicrobial agents against the bacterial isolates tested