Research article

Antimicrobial screening and phytochemical analysis of Carica papaya Leaf extracts

^*1Ekaiko Marshall U, ²Chiwendu Stephen, ²Ukpabi Emmanuel O and ²Ezikpe Chizaram A

¹Department of Biology/Microbiology, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Nigeria

²Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Nigeria

*Corresponding Authors E-mail: ekaikomarshall@gmail.com, Tel: +2347067458732

Accepted 12 March 2015

Abstract

A rekindled interest in the pharmaceutical importance of plants has led to the discovery and adoption of plant extracts which were commonly used in traditional medicine, as alternative source of remedy. In the present study, the phytochemical and antimicrobial effect of Carica papaya .L leaf extract was investigated using standard method. The result revealed that the plant contained some bioactive compounds which include, Alkanoids (0.05±0.01), Flavonoids (2.80±0.11), Saponins (0.07±0.02), Tannins (1.05±0.01). the antimicrobial activity of the plant showed that the plant had a broad spectrum activity against the test isolate with varying zones of inhibitions ranging from 16.0mm, 18.4, 15.0, 16.5, and 13.0mm for S. aureus, E. coli, S. typhi, P. aeroginosa, and C. albican respectively at 100% concentration of the ethanolic extract. However, the organic solvent extract showed more effect compared to the aqueous extract. The present study therefore suggest the use of plant base antimicrobial (Carica papaya. L) as an alternative to chemotherapeutic agents.

Keyword: Phytochemicals, Antimicrobial, Carica papaya .L.