A comparative antimicrobial activity of methanolic root, leaf, seed cotyledon extracts of Annona squamosa L

Abstract

Annona squamosa L., belongs to the family Annonaceae, commonly known as custard apple. A comparative antimicrobial activity of methanolic root, leaf and seed cotyledons extracts of A. squamosa were evaluated against four fungi namely, Tricophyton rubrum, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus. (filamentous) and Candida albicans (dimorphic fungi) and three bacteria, Bacillus subtilis (Gram positive), Escherichia coli and Serratia marcurs (Gram negative) using agar well diffusion method. Maximum inhibition was found with 40mg/ml concentration of methanolic root and seed cotyledon extracts against all the tested organisms under investigation. The minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by disk diffusion method. Preliminary phytochemical tests were carried out using crude extracts. The study suggests that the root and seed cotyledon of A. squamosa are promising in the development of phytomedicine for antimicrobial properties.