Abstract
The study was governed by the objective of investigating the antimicrobial effects of mangrove leaf extracts. The fresh and dried leaf extracts from Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh., Avicennia officinalis L., Aegiceras corniculatum (L.) Blanco, Aegialitis rotundifolia Roxb., Acanthus ilicifolius L, Lumnitzera racemosa Willd., Excoecaria agallocha L. and Sonneratia apetala Buch-Ham. were found to have inhibitory effects on the milk spoilage microflora obtained from curd sample. Methanol and Acetone were used as extraction solvents and in comparison, extracts by acetone were observed to suppress the microbial growth to lesser extents. Leaf extracts of A. marina, A. officinalis L. racemosa and A. rotundifolia were able to exert relatively greater inhibitory effect on the milk spoilage microbial broth than others, although all the species expressed some degree of suppression. Interestingly A. rotundifolia, S. apetala, L. racemosa and E. agallocha demonstrated greater efficiency in formation of larger growth inhibition zones on the petri plates. The extracts obtained from dry leaves produced greater adverse effects of the microbes than the raw leaf extracts. The data generated were analyzed with the help of 'ANOVA: Single factor' and 'F-test: Two sample for variance' and data sets were of statistical significance at 0.05 level of significance as null hypothesis was rejected.
Highlights
Plants have served as valuable and indispensable sources of natural resources for human beings and apart from their more obvious impacts upon the well being of the ecosystem, they have proven to be invaluable as repositories of a plethora of biochemical compounds of immense medicinal and therapeutic value and have great potentials for producing new drugs effective against debilitatingISSN 2358-2731/BJBS-2017-0025/4/8/6/273Braz
The antimicrobial activity of the leaf extracts were observed to be far more potential when procured from dry leaves than their fresher counterparts as the optical density hardly reached half the values it reached in case of raw leaf extracts
It was noted that leaf extracts from Avicennia marina, Avicennia officinalis, Lumnitzera racemosa and Aegialitis rotundifolia among the species selected were able to exert relatively greater adverse impacts on the milk spoilage bacteria than others, all the species exhibited some degree of suppressive effect
Summary
Plants have served as valuable and indispensable sources of natural resources for human beings and apart from their more obvious impacts upon the well being of the ecosystem, they have proven to be invaluable as repositories of a plethora of biochemical compounds of immense medicinal and therapeutic value and have great potentials for producing new drugs effective against debilitatingISSN 2358-2731/BJBS-2017-0025/4/8/6/273Braz. Tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world are bestowed with abundant floral treasure with untapped potentials to be used as antimicrobial, antiviral and/or antifungal agents. According to the World Health Organization, plants are a source of compounds that have the ability to combat disease, antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal activities (Gazim et al, 2008). They are less toxic to humans and environmentally friendly due to fewer pollutants produced at production lines and have minimal health hazards (Opra and Wokocha, 2008)
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