Phytochemical Constituents and Antibacterial Activities of Jatropha curcas and Jatropha gossypiifolia Leaves

Foluso Faparusi & Adekanmi Adewole, Volume 2 Issue 2, December 2021 Pages 146-155, Published: 2021-12-22

Abstract

Medicinal plants play key role in wellbeing of people across several countries, most especially in unindustrialized countries; many of these plants are believed to have antimicrobial properties. The phytochemical screening and antibacterial potentials of Jatropha curcas and J. gossypiifolia leaves extracts were investigated in this study. Phytochemical constituents of the plants were extracted using methanol and ethanol as solvent. The bioactive chemicals were determined qualitatively. The antagonistic property of the crude extracts (200 mg/mL) was evaluated by agar well diffusion technique. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were evaluated by broth dilution and streak methods, respectively. The occurrence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, saponins and tannins was revealed in the two plants. Glycoside was also present in J. gossypiifolia extracts but not in J. curcas. The extracts showed different degrees of activity against strain of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae but no visible activity against Salmonella typhi and Pseudomona aeruginosa. Diameters of clear zones around the wells ranged from 14.0±1.0 – 22.0±1.0 mm. Ethanolic extracts were higher in antibacterial activity (22.0±1.0 mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration values of the extracts ranged from 100 – 200 mg/mL. Jatropha curcas extracts minimum bactericidal concentration values were 100 mg/mL and ˃200 mg/mL while that of J. gossypiifolia were 200 mg/mL and ˃200 mg/mL. The extracts compete favourably with ciprofloxacin; therefore, the plants could be source of drug(s) of important value.