African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (16), pp. 1905-1909, 20 August 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the crude extracts from the root, stem bark and leaves of Vitellaria paradoxa (GAERTN. F)

Ndukwe, I. G.*, Amupitan, J. O., Isah, Y. and Adegoke, K. S.

Chemistry Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: ndukweilogeorge@yahoo.com Phone: (234) 08036001692, 08054567774.

Accepted 23 August, 2007

The root, stem and leaves of Vitellaria paradoxa, belonging to the Sapotaceae family and which have some ethnomedicinal applications were studied. Phytochemical screening of the plant parts reveals the presence of carbohydrates (free reducing sugars, ketoses, pentoses and starch), saponins, steroids, tannins and alkaloids. The antimicrobial screening of the crude methanol extract carried out in vitro on the following clinical isolates; Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pnuemoniae and Salmonella typhi showed that the crude methanol extracts had wider range of activity on these organisms than the petroleum ether extracts. The crude stem extracts inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, B. cereus and S. typhi at concentration of 50 mg/ml while the leaf had a minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) of 70 mg/ml on S. aureus, E. coli and S. typhi. The root had an MIC of 60 mg/ml on S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and S. typhi. The MBC in all the cases were slightly higher than the MIC and was lowest in the stem extracts which indicates that the stem bark may contain the most active components.

Key words: Sapotaceae, Vitellaria paradoxa, antimicrobial activity, clinical isolates, in vitro.