ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THE FOLKLORE MEDICINAL PLANT, ACACIA CAESIA (L.) WILD.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of stem bark extracts of the folklore plant species, Acacia caesia L. by using three alcoholic solvents viz; petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and methanol were tested against ten human pathogenic bacteria viz., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. stutzeri, Escherichia coli, Micrococcus sp., Lactobacillus sp., Servatia sp., Moraxetta sp., Bacillus subtilis, B. thuriengensis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae and ten human pathogenic fungi viz., Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A.baumannii, Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, Mucor rouxii, Alternaria alternata, Candida albicans, Cladosporium sp. and Rhizopus sp. for assessing the antimicrobial properties by adapting disc diffusion method. The results of the study revealed that all extracts showed varied degree of antimicrobial activity against the tested pathogens. However, the ethyl acetate extracts exhibited higher inhibition zone (17.23 mm) against the bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae and the fungus, Mucor rouxii (30.77 mm). These results support the therapeutic importance of the species, Acacia caesia in curing infectious diseases and encourage the extensive use of this species in health care practices