Phytochemicals and Antimicrobial Properties of the Root and Leaf Extract of Carica Papaya

Abstract

The use of Carica papaya parts in the treatment common illness have been going on for ages, but this claims have not been properly investigated, we therefore commenced on investigating most of this ethno medicinal claims

The phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the ethanol leaf and root extracts of Carica papaya were determined by standard laboratory procedures and with the aid of Jenway 6303 Digital spectrophotometer. Results revealed that the leaf sample contained 0.488 mg/100100g alkaloid, 0.81 mg/100 g saponin, 0.30 mg/100 g flavonoid, 3.45 ppm Tannin and 40.4 ppm phenol. The root sample contained 2.22 mg/100g alkaloid, 1.32 mg/100 g saponin and 1.52 mg/100 g of flavonoid. Antimicrobial screening of the ethanolic extracts of the samples against five selected pathogens revealed that the microbes were resistant to the crude leaf extracts but were signicantly inhibited by the root extracts. The diameter of inhibition were as fellows; 18mm, 28mm, 30mm, 36mm and 30mm for Escherchia coli, Pseudomonas aureginosa, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus aureus respectively.  These values were comparative with those obtained from 1mg standard antibiotics Oxacillin which gave values of 12 mm, 21 mm, 14 mm, 13 mm and 20 mm respectively for Escherichia coli, pseudomonas auregonosa, klebsiella, staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus aureus. The minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) were found to be 6.5 mg/g, 12.2 mg/g, 6.5mg/g, 12.5 mg/g and 6.5 mg/g for E. coli, P. aureginosa, and Klebsiella. Staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus aureus respectively The root extracts of Carica papaya could be useful in treating infectious wound, pneumonia internal heat, stomach noise, and strange movement in the body, abdominal pains and a host of other diseases