ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF PLANT EXTRACT K LEAF EXTRACTS ON STANDARD LABORATORY TEST MICROORGANISM
By Michael Akolo, B132/13833/2017

Supervisor: Dr J Mugweru

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants have played an important role in drug discovery, with many pharmaceutical products originating from plants. Isolation and characterization of antibacterial compounds are still relevant today because of the continuing development of resistance of bacteria and fungi to antibiotics. The aim of the study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of plant K against Candida albicans, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus isolates. Serial dilution was carried out to obtain different concentrations of the plant extract, for standardization of the isolates McFarland procedure was carried out within a range of 0.5-4 and used as a reference to regulate the turbidity of bacteria suspensions. The plant extract was extracted using water as the solvent and allowing it to boil for 5-10 minutes then filtered using a filter paper. After incubation of the preferred plant extract concentration with bacteria isolates, zones of inhibition that had formed around the bacteria growth were measured and recorded. The results showed that plant K extract had antimicrobial activity on all the bacteria isolates. The study identified microbial activities of plant K as useful and can be used as a medicinal plant.
Key words: phytochemicals, antimicrobial, herbal medicine