Anti-Microbial and Phytochemical Screening of the Seed Extracts of Persea Americana (AVOCADO PEAR)

Abstract

The seed of Persea americana was extracted with four different solvents and subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening which revealed the presence of steroids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and cardiac glycoside. Antimicrobial activity of the seed extracts against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhi was carried out using the disc diffusion techniques. The ethylacetate extract demonstrated pronounced activity against the test organisms. The activity of methanol extract against S. aureus was (31 mm) while that of petroleum ether was (5mm) against E.coli. However, S. typhi and E. coli were resistant to chloroform and methanol extracts. The activity of ethylactate, chloroform and methanol extracts compared favourably with that of the antibiotics erythromycin used as standard. The antimicrobial activities displayed by the various extracts could be attributed to the presence of secondary metabolites identified in the phytochemical screening and also signifies the potential of Persea americana seed as an anti-microbial therapeutic agent.