The Antimicrobial Activities of Crude Extracts of Fruits of Andasonia digitata

Abstract

Adansonia digitata plant is a tree with a wide range of medicinal properties that can be used to treat a variety of infectious diseases locally. The main objective of this study is to determine the antimicrobial activity of Adansonia digitata methanol, ethanol, and distilled water extract against pathogenic microorganisms. The antimicrobial activity of methanol, ethanol, and aqueous extracts of Adansonia digitata fruit pulp extracts was thoroughly examined against pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Fusarium oxysporium, Trichoderma harzianum, Aspergillus flavus, and Pyricularia oryzae. The antimicrobial activity of these extracts against both bacteria and fungi strains was investigated using the paper disk diffusion method, Agar well diffusion technique and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method. It was observed that the distilled water, methanol, and ethanol extract of Adansonia digitata were effective against all the test organisms used in this study. The Adansonia digitata plant also demonstrated antimicrobial qualities as it showed zone of inhibition against some fungi which include Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Pyricularia oryzae and Trichoderma harzianum. The MIC values obtained from this study showed that distilled water, methanol, and ethanol extract of Adansonia digitata were effective against all the test organisms used in this study at the concentrations of 50µg/ml and 25µg/ml. The range of zone of inhibition against fungi (13mm – 17mm) was significantly higher than the range of zone of inhibition of the bacteria.