Antimicrobial Activity of Leaf Extracts of Gentum Africanum Against Some Soup Spoilage Bacterial Isolates

Student: Ignatius Alfred Ogiji (Project, 2025)
Department of Microbiology
Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State

Abstract

Gnetum africanum is a widely used vegetable in southern Nigeria to prepare soup. Previous studies demonstrated that Gnetum africanum posses antimicrobial properties. Therefore, this study is aimed at determining the antimicrobial property or activity of the aqueous leaf extract against spoilage bacteria which includes, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from spoilt soup. A comparison of the leaves extract and conventional antibiotics was performed against the test isolates. Successive extraction of Gnetum africanum leaves was done with aqueous solution(water). Antimicrobial activities of the leaf extracts of G. africanum were screened by agar-well diffusion method. In the result, Staphylococcus aureus which exhibited the highest growth zone of inhibitions with a total average of 21.5mm, and Klebsiella pneumoniae exhibit the lowest growth zone of inhibitions with a total average of 13mm. The conventional antibiotic susceptibility result show that all the test organisms were susceptible, resistant or at intermediate level to the antibiotics, which indicates or show more effectiveness than the extract. This prove it's safety for human consumption and other economical uses.

Keywords
Gnetum africanum Antibiotic Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae
Filters
Institutions