Antibacterial Potential of Pod Extracts of Gum Arabic Tree (Acacia nilotica)

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the antibacterial potential of Gum Arabic Tree (Acacia nilotica) pod extracton some pathogenic bacteria which could have health implications. Powdered pods of Acacia nilotica wereextracted with ethanol and distilled water separately. The extracts were tested for antibacterial activities against thetest isolates using Agar Well Diffusion method. The extracts were further subjected to qualitative phytochemicalscreening to detect secondary metabolites present using standard procedures. The minimum inhibitory andminimum bactericidal concentrations of the extracts were also detected using standard procedures. Thephytochemical screening revealed certain metabolites (steroids, saponins, terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, andalkaloids) in the ethanol and aqueous extracts, except for steroids, which were present only in ethanol extract. Theresult of the sensitivity test showed that ethanol pod extract produced the highest and least zone of inhibition againstPseudomonas aeruginosa (22 mm) and S. typhi (15 mm) respectively at 50mg/ml while the aqueous extract of thepod exhibited activity against S. typhi (20 mm) and E. coli (12 mm) at 50 mg/ml. This showed that the A. niloticapod extracts could serve as potential antibacterial agents against pathogenic bacteria.