Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activity of Ficus Sycomorus Leaves

ABSTRACT

Antibiotic resistance has become one of the major problems facing humanity. The need for new antimicrobials has been increased dramatically. Plants are considered as a major sources of new antibiotics due to the presence of phytochemicals. In Nigeria and other developing countries medicine plant materials have been used to treat various diseases since ancient times. The goal of our research is to evaluate the phytochemical and antimicrobial efficiency of Ficus sycamorus leaf extracts. The leave of Ficus sycamorus were screened for phytochemicals, antimicrobial activity and minimum inhibition concentration (MIC). The ethanol, methanol, n-hexane, petroleum ether and aqueous extracts of this plants were subjected to phytochemical and antimicrobial analysis as well as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis. The result of the phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, steroid, glycosides and flavonoids.  The crude extracts showed various zones of inhibition against the following microorganisms namely; Staphy aerus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Penicillin chrysogenum and Aspergillus fumigatuss chrysogenum and Aspergillus fumigatuss. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for bacteria. and fungi  Staphylococcus aerus for ethanol is 125(-), methanol is 250(-) n-hexane is 500(-), aqueous is 500(-) and petroleum ether is 250(-) and also every other and fungi present and this showed that this plant is a very medicinal plant