Abstract

This study investigated the anti-Vibrio activities of the leaf extract of Dialium guineense on eighteen environmental strains of vibrios. The phytochemical constituents of the extract were also assayed in a preliminary test. The results showed that D. guineense crude leaf extract exhibited anti-Vibrio activities on fourteen out of eighteen environmental strains ofVibrio spp. at a final concentration of 20 mg/ml; the zones of inhibition exhibited by the extract against the test isolates ranged between 12 and 20 mm. Standard antibiotics - ampicillin and streptomycin inhibited the growth of the test isolates with the zones of inhibition ranging between 7 to 35 mm and 10 to 37 mm respectively. D. guineense leaf extract exhibited minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging between 0.313 to 5.0 mg/ml against the Vibrio isolates while the minimum bactericidal concentrations exhibited ranged between 0.625 and 10 mg/ml by the extract. From the preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, steroids and cardiac glycosides were detected as phytochemicals in the crude extract of the plant. The results obtained from this study may provide a proof of the usefulness of D. guineense for traditional uses as folk medicine in the management of various ailments caused by Vibrio spp.

Key word: Vibrio, Dialium guineense, minimum bactericidal concentrations, phytochemical.