DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 455-462

The phytochemical and anti-microbial properties of the leaves of Combretum racemosum were examined in this research work. The phytochemical screening of this plant leaves using ethanol, propanol and water reveal the presence of antraquinone, tannin, steroids, cardiac glycosides, saponin, reducing sugars, flavonoids, terpenoids and phlobatannin at various degrees of concentrations. The leaf extract also shows antibacterial and antifungal activities. Minimum inhibitory concentration for the ethanolic extract with Staphylococcus aureus, Psudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi range from 7.8125-31.25mg/ml; for the propanolic extract Minimum inhibitory concentration gave a range from 31.25-62.3mg/ml while for the aqueous extract the Minimum inhibitory concentration ranged from 15.625-125.0mg/ml respectively for the different bacteria. The ethanolic extract on Candida albicans gave a Minimum inhibitory concentration of 15.625mg/ml. Mycelial radial growth using the ethanolic and aqueous extract on Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus spp were examined. A percentage inhibition which ranged from 31.75-65.5% were obtained for Aspergillus niger for ethanolic extract and 7.7-9.6% for the aqueous extract while for Rhizopus spp, the percentage inhibition for ethanolic extract gave a range from 47.57-60.69% and 12.17-15.39% for the aqueous extract. The aqueous extract on Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus spp had no much significant activity on the plant extract. The hydrolysed alkaloid fraction obtained using the Stas Otto method gave good bacterial activity on all bacteria used and on Candida albicans and this was concentration dependent.