Abstract

Persea duthiei plant crude extracts were subjected to evaluation for antibacterial and antifungal activities. For antibacterial activities, seven bacterial strains; Escherichia coli(NCTC 10418), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 700603),Staphylococcus epidermidis (NCTC 11047), Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA: NCTC 13143) and Salmonella were used. All fractions of the plant were completely inactive on three bacterial strains: E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. epidermidis, which were used in the antibacterial assays. Water fraction showed promising activity against MRSA. Ethyl acetate, chloroform, ethanol, and n-Hexane extracts showed activity againstSalmonella, MRSA and Staphylococcus aureus. n-Hexane extract also showed activity against Klebsiella up to some extent. For antifungal activities, four fungal strains: Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium solani, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger were subjected to crude extract. Water fraction was found highly active against F. solani and A. niger, while it showed good activity against other strains. Ethyl acetate fraction was prominent against F. solani andA. niger. Chloroform fraction showed significant activity against F. solani. Phytochemical analysis was also performed using the literature methods.

Key words: Persea duthiei, antimicrobial activity, crude extracts.