Abstract

The study was designed to assess the antimicrobial activity of the root extract of Morinda Elliptica after successive maceration in four solvents (hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate and methanol) by determining the zone of growth inhibition against selected human pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhii, Staphylococcus aureus and fungi, Aspergillus Brasiliensis and Aspergillus Flavus. Agar disc diffusion method was used in the determination of the antimicrobial potentials. The mean values of zones of growth inhibition of the various extracts were then compared with standard antibiotic (chloramphenicol), antifungal drug (nystatin) and dimethyl thiosulphate (DMSO) using a statistical software SPSS 22 and the result was expressed at 95 % level of confidence. A remarkable antibacterial was observed against all the bacterial strains at 500 μg/ml. The result of the antifungal potential also shows a considerable zone of growth inhibition in ethyl acetate and methanol extracts against A. niger and in DCM against A. flavus at 1000 μg/ml. The findings in this study indicates the extract contains active phytochemicals that are potential sources for the discovery of bioactive antibacterial agents that could contribute in the search for antimicrobial agentsin the fight against drug resistant bacteria species from natural sources.

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