A comparative study of the antimicrobial activities of the bark and seed extracts of
Garcinia kola
and
Carica
papaya
were tested using the Agar well diffusion method on eight bacterial strains -
Staphylococcus aureus
;
Salmonella typhi B
;
Shigelladysenteria
;
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
;
Serratiamarcescens
;
Pseudomonas fluorescens
;
Proteus vulgaris
; and
Bacillus subtillis
. Phytochemical screening shows that both bark and seed of the two plants contain reducing sugars, phenols
and alkaloids whereas the pawpaw extracts contained tannins which were absent in the bitter kola plant part.
Garcinakola on
the other hand has saponin that was not present in
Caricapapaya. The
Garcinia seed ethanol extract manifested the best
inhibitory activities against the test bacteria, producing inhibition zones ranging from 12–23mm. There was no resistance from
any of the test bacteria. The pawpaw seed extract was also effective against the test bacteria. The inhibition zone observed
ranged from 11-16mm. The ethanol extract of both plants were active against
Staphylococcus aureus,
Shigelladysenteria,
Pseudomonas fluorescens; and
Salmonella typhi B. Pawpaw leaf ethanolic extract significantly inhibited
Pseudomiasaeruginosa, while Garcinia seeds ethanolic extract also inhibited
Bacillus substilis. The activity index of ethanol
extract of
Garcinia kola seed was higher than that of pawpaw seed when both gentamicin and tetracycline were used as a
standard antibiotics. The aqueous extract of both plant parts were not as effective as the ethanol extract. The activities of these
medicinal plants against the tested bacterial species in this study justified their common use in African traditional medicine in
the treatment of various ailments.
