Phytochemical screening & antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate & methanol extracts of Annona muricata aerial part
OB Tojola, L Lajide, BJ Owolabi, MT Olaleye and SO Okoh
The medicinal plant Annona muricata is an evergreen plant that is mostly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and it has been deployed as an ethnomedicine against various illnesses. The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of the plant were subjected to phytochemical screening and were also investigated for antibacterial activities against four gram positive which were Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiallae paeumonae and twogram negative which were Esherichia coli and Salmonellae typhii. The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were found to inhibit the growth of the test organisms, but the ethyl acetate extract proved to be a better antibacterial agent. The results showed that the ethyl acetate extract at 100.0mg/ml concentration exhibited the highest zone of inhibition of 25.0±1.00mm against four of the organisms. The phytochemical screening of the extracts both revealed the presence of tannins, resins, flavonoid and phenols. This study has shown that this plant contains certain phytochemical constituents of a great medicinal importance and that it has the potential for the treatment of various infections caused by bacteria.