Phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the partitioned-soluble portions of the de-pigmented methanolic extract of Tridax procumbens Linn (whole plant)

Abstract

The five partitioned-soluble portions of the earlier reported antibacterial active de-pigmented crude methanolic extract of T.procumbens (Mp-C) was further screened for their phytochemicals and antimicrobial efficacy. Phytochemical screening of the soluble portions using standard methods revealed that the butanol-soluble portion (MP-Cb) like the crude etract (Mp-C) showed the strong presence of saponins, flavonoids, sapogenins and alkaloids. The in-vitro anti-bacteria assay of the test compounds using the agar-diffusion method revealed that the ethyl acetate- (Mp-Ce), butanol-(Mp-Cb) and chloroform-(Mp-Cc) soluble portions at 50 mg/ml exhibited significant inhibitory broad spectrum activities than Mp-C. the activity of the active portions was better than that exhibited by tetracycline at 1 mg/ml against some of the test bacterial strains. In-vitro antifungal assay of the test compound using also the agar-diffusion method revealed that all the portions expressed to significant activity, while Mp-C exhibited weak antifungal activity at 50 mg/ml in comparison with ketoconazole at 1 mg/ml against the test fungal strains. The minimum inhibitory (MIC), minimum bactericidal (MBC) concentration and MBC/MIC ratios of the active portions ranged from 6.25-12.5 mg/m, 6.25-25 mg/ml and 1.00-2.00, respectively, while the MIC, minimum fungicidal (MFC) concentrations and MFC/MIC ratio of Mp-C was 25 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml and 2.00, respectively. The above findings suggest that the partitioned-soluble portions of the de-pigmented methanol extract of T. procumbens might be a veritable source of antibacterial, rather than antifungal substances for the treatment of diarrhea, typhoid fever, urinary and gastrointestinal infaction