PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION AND DETERMINATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE FRUIT CRUDE EXTRACT OF FICUS PALMATA (BELES)

Abstract

Considering the known broad potential for recovering organic components from complex matrices such as the plant natural products, methanol was used as the extraction solvent to give 38g of crude extract of Ficus palmata Forsk fruit. The qualitative phytochemical screening of, Methanol extract revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloid, tannins, protein, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and coumarins. Determination of the antibacterial activity of methanol crude extract against some Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria using the agar well diffusion method was effective (12.66, 13.66, 13.3, and 12.3 mm inhibition zone) against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer determination of trace metals in leaves and fruit sample of Ficus palmata revels that, the fruits contained relatively high quantities of iron and considerable amounts of other nutritionally essential elements, including: magnesium and calcium and copper, whereas the leaves contain high level of calcium, magnesium and iron, and small amount of copper