Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of Xylopia aethiopica and Gongronema latifolium on Common Pathogens

The aim of the study was to determine the proximate composition, phytochemical composition and the antimicrobial potentials of the extracts of Xylopia aethiopica and Gongronema latifolium on some commonly encountered pathogens. The proximate composition results reveal that both plants were very rich in basic nutrients. X. aethiopica had 14.5% moisture, 2.41% ash, 1.38% protein, 0.33% fat and 72.1% carbohydrate. G. latifolium on the other hand, had 44.1% moisture, 3.43% ash, 9.10% protein, 3.65% fat, 8.60% fiber and 31.3% carbohydrate. Phytochemical screening of both plants showed that they were abundant in phytochemicals such as alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, reducing compounds and polyphenols. However, tannins, phlobatannins, anthraquinones and hydroxymethyl anthraquninones were absent. Crude quantification of the phytochemicals revealed that flavonoids and polyphenols were the most abundant of all. Analysis of variance triplicate readings was significant (P < 0.0001). Esherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed varying zones of sensitivity to the aqueous, ethanol and methanol extracts of both plants. Aqueous extracts of G. latifolium gave the highest zone of inhibition of 26 mm with P. aeruginosa with while the least inhibition of 7 mm was recorded with methanolic extract against S. aureus. The zones of inhibitions for X. aethiopica were almost similar for all the test isolates. The result of the study confirms that these plants have tremendous potentials that could further be exploited.