Jeremiah Ogbeba
Federal Polytechnic Bauchi Nigeria
Biography:
Ogbeba Jeremiah is a lecturer with Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Nigeria. He holds an MSc in Medical microbiology from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa university Bauchi, Nigeria. He has interest in antimicrobial properties of plants against pathogenic bacteria and looks forward to study further in such fields as well as oral microbiology.
Abstract:
Finger millet in northern Nigeria was subjected to phytochemical screening using standard procedures. The agar well method was used to test the antibacterial activities of methanolic and aqeous (combined) extracts of the grain on Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The result of the antimicrobial activity as indicated by zone of inhibition ranged from 1-8mm for different extract concentrations. The finger millet extract showed zones of inhibition of 8mm against Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a concentration of 100mg/ml, 3mm at 50mg/ml and 2mm at 25mg/ml concentrations. The inhibition zones of Escherichia coli at extract concentrations of 100mg/ml,50mg/ml,25mg/ml, 12.25mg/ml and 6.125mg/ml were 4mm, 3mm, 3mm, 6mm and 1mm respectively, and for Staphylococcus aureus were 5mm,2mm, 1mm at 100mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 12.25mg/ml respectively. The zones of inhibition against all the tested isolates at 100mg/ml was not significantly different from those of 50mg/ml (p=0.160), 25mg/ml (p=0.067) and 12.5mg/ml (p=0.160), but significantly higher than 6.125mg/ml (p=0.05). The results further showed that E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa did not differ significantly in their susceptibility to the varying concentrations of the plant extract (p=0.229). Although S. aureus and S. typhi also did not differ significantly in their susceptibility to the varying concentrations of the extract (p=0.157), but susceptibility by S. typhi was significantly lower than those of E. coli (p=0.007) and P. aeruginosa (p=0.015). The qualitative phytochemical analysis indicated the presence tannin/phenol, flavonoids, alkaloid, saponin, glycosides, terpenoid and steroids in finger millet. The proximate analysis revealed the moisture (9.98%), ash (2.81%), protein (1.45%), fat (1.67%), carbohydrate (78.08%) and energy contents (357.18kcal). The quantitative phytochemical revealed total phenolic content (6.57 mg/100g) and total flavonoid content (0.224 mg/100g). The overall results indicate that finger millet are potent antimicrobial preparations at least invitro and also have high nutritional value.