Anti-Microbial Activities Of Two Selected Traditional Medicinal Plants Used In Bero Wereda, Bench Maji Zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activities of roots of Carissa spinarm and Cissampelos mucronata. The plants were collected from Bench Maji zone in Bero woreda, southwest of Ethiopia. Root parts of the two plants were air dried under shade and the dehydrated roots were separately crushed into fine texture using mortar, and further grinded into powder using electronic grinder machine. Crude extracts were prepared using 100 g of powdered roots using methanol, acetone and petroleum ether. Microbial activities of different concentration of the extracts were evaluated against standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Pseudomona aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) and Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 133110) following the disc diffusion method and micro broth dilution assay. Phytochemical screening of plant extracts was also conducted following standard methods. Result of the current study indicated that the methanol extract of root of C.mucronata had better inhibitory activity with maximum inhibition zone of 19 mm against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923) and 17 mm against Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 133110). In the case of Carissa spinarm, the methanol extract was more effective with inhibition zones diameter of 14 mm and 11 mm against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923) and Pseudomona aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), respectively. Accordingly, methanol extracts of the root of C. spinarm was relatively more effective against Gram positive bacteria than Gram negative bacteria. The result of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of saponin, flavonoids, tannins and terpenoids although at different intensity. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the three extracts ranged from 6.5 mg/ml to 25 mg/ml. The root of Cissampelos mucronata extracts exhibited better antimicrobial activity than the root extract of Carissa spinarm.