PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL SCREENING OF THE BARK EXTRACTS OF Myrianthus arboreus

Abstract

The inhibitory effects of the bark extract of Myrianthus arboreus was studied with chloroform, ethanol, methanol, acetone, aqueous hot and cold extracts on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Proteus sp., Klebsiella sp., Aspergillus sp., and Candida albicans, using disc diffusion and agar diffusion method. All the solvents showed inhibitory effect with varying degree of susceptibility between 10.00-18.00mm except aqueous cold that did not show any activity to any of the test organism. Ethanol, acetone and methanol extract had highest zones of inhibition on most of the isolates between 12.00- 18.00mm, while aqueous hot extracts showed the least zones of inhibition at 1.00mm. The zones of inhibitions of the extract coincided well with some of the standard antibiotics and antifungal drugs used which showed that the plant can be used for phytomedicinal purposes because of their related properties. The bark of Myrianthus arboreus can be developed as a chemotherapeutic agent due to its antimicrobial properties