Evaluation of Phytochemical Composition and Antibacterial Properties of Crude Extracts from Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn)

The over increasing antibiotic resistance of pathogens has driven a global initiative towards the search for new sources of antimicrobial substances mainly from medicinal plants. Based on the existing traditional claim, this study investigated the antimicrobial activities and phytochemical composition of crude extracts of anchote (Coccinia abysinica) leaf and tuber using extracting solvents such as ethanol and hexane against the gram positive (Streptococcus aureus, Staphylococcus pyogene) and gram negative (Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli) pathogenic bacteria. The antibacterial activity was tested against four bacterial strains by agar well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the plant extracts against the test pathogens were assessed using the broth dilution method. The antibiotic amoxicillin was used as positive and distilled water as negative controls for bacterial pathogens. The ethanol tuber and hexane leaf extracts did not show inhibition zone, while the tuber and leaf extracts (ethanol and hexane) showed the highest activity against the tested bacterial strain. The hexane tuber extracts and ethanol leaf extracts of Coccinia abyssinica showed inhibitory effects at a concentration of 200mg/ml with zones of inhibition ranging from10.50 -14.50mm and 12.1715.83mm, respectively. The lowest and highest zones of inhibitions were observed against Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The inhibitory activities of the crude extracts were significantly different at (p