Antimicrobial activity of different solvent extracted samples from the leaves and fruits of Capsicum annuum

Abstract

The current research describes the antimicrobial potential of methanol, n-hexane, n-butanol, ethyl acetate and aqueous extracted samples from the leaves and fruits tissues of Capsicum annuum. Different solvent extracted samples were screened against six pathogenic microorganisms including five bacterial and one fungal specie by disc diffusion susceptibility assay using 1, 2 and 3 mg disc-1 concentrations. When analyzed statistically the data showed that different solvent extracted samples from both leaves and fruits of Capsicum annuum revealed varying degrees of antibacterial and antifungal activities. n-butanol and ethyl acetate extracted fractions from both leaves and fruits showed significant inhibition of growth against all the tested microorganisms at 1, 2 and 3 mg disc-1 concentrations. Escherichia coli were completely resistant to aqueous extracts obtained from the leaves at all the three concentrations. Klebsiella pneumonia was resistant to n-hexane extracted fraction from leaves at 1mg disc-1 concentration, however, was susceptible at 2 and 3 mg disc-1 concentrations. The growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were effectively inhibited by all the solvent extracted fractions from the fruits while aqueous fraction was not able to inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis. The growth of Candida albicans was effectively inhibited by ethyl acetate extracted fraction from leaves at 3 mg disc-1 concentration.