Phyto-chemical screening and anti-microbial properties of bioactive constituents of the leaves extracts of Chloris breviseta benth

Abstract

Chloris breviseta Benth belongs to the family Poaceae. It is an annual specie that multiplies only by seeds. The plant leaves were cold extracted with ethanol to obtain ethanol extract, which was subsequently fractionated into n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions by maceration method. Three fractions were subjected to phyto-chemical and anti-microbial screening using standard methods. Phyto-chemical analysis showed that both chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions contained flavonoids, saponins steroids,
alkaloids, terpenoids and anthraquinones, while only steroids and terpenoids were present in hexane fraction. Results of antibacterial screening of hexane, ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions showed the fractions exhibited various levels of activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus pyogenes, Bacillus subtlis, Escherichia. coli, while antifungal screening of the fractions against various fungal species: Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans and Rhizopus spp were carried out by agar well diffusion method. Chloroform fraction recorded highest activities against bacterial organisms: S. aureus, B. subtlis and S. typhi with inhibition zones of 20, 23 and 32 mm respectively, with exception of S. pyogenes in which n-hexane fraction recorded the highest inhibition zone of 28 mm. Similarly, the results of anti-fungal screening against A. niger, A. flavus,
A. fumigatus, C. albicans and Rhizopus spp showed that chloroform fraction recorded highest activities against, Rhizopus spp, A. flavus and C. albicans 13, 12.9 and 24.9 mm zone of inhibition at 200 mg/ cm³ concentration. Ciprofloxacin and fluconazole were used as positive controls for bacterial and fungal species respectively. Fluconazole exhibited highest activities than all the three fractions against the fungal organisms, with exception of chloroform fraction which recorded higher activity (24.9 mm) against C.
albicans than fluconazole (22 mm). The phyto-chemicals contained in the plant leaves extract of Chloris breviseta could be the source of bioactive compounds that can be explored and isolated and to produce novel antimicrobial agents for drug synthesis.